| Alessandro Del Piero skipped Italy’s practice match in training here on Monday evening, the latest signal that the Juventus ace is unlikely to face Chile this week. Del Piero, the man tagged by coach Cesare Maldini as a possible World Cup hero, is still recovering from an adductor muscle injury he picked up in last month’s European Cup final defeat to Real Madrid. Monday was supposed to have been his first training session with the rest of the squad, but in fact he only completed the stretching exercises and some light jogging before heading off to train on his own. The rest of the squad worked on improving their mechanisms in midfield in a scratch game in the other half of the pitch, while Del Piero was noticeably avoiding anything which resembled sprinting. Maldini is keen to increase the speed with which Italy hit teams on the counter and the 66-year-old coach could frequently be heard barking: “One touch!” to his men.
Del Piero’s place up front is now almost certain to go to on-form Roberto Baggio, partnering Atletico Madrid’s Christian Vieri in Thursday’s Group B tie in Bordeaux.
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