Del Piero still harbours World Cup hope
Published 20:11 17/03/10 By Pa Sports
Alessandro Del Piero is hoping to improve his chances of making Italy's World Cup squad by firing Juventus into the last eight of the Europa League on Thursday.
The Bianconeri go into Thursday night's match against Barclays Premier League side Fulham with a 3-1 lead from the first leg in Turin. Del Piero was absent from that match but is expected to face the Cottagers on Thursday after scoring twice in Juve's 3-3 draw with Siena on Sunday.
"I'm still very hopeful of making the squad," said the 35-year-old. "I know that (Italy manager Marcello) Lippi has not chosen the squad yet so there are still chances for me. I'm really hopeful about it and I believe that a match like tomorrow gives me a good chance of trying to achieve that."
The Juventus striker has not featured for the Azzurri since Euro 2008 and Lippi has not given any indication he will take the striker to South Africa, where Italy will be among the favourites to win the tournament.
Juve lost ground in their hunt for a Champions League place by throwing away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Serie A's bottom side Siena on Sunday.
Del Piero has warned his team-mates that they cannot afford a similar lapse in concentration at Fulham.
"We analysed that match the day after with the coach and he made several points that we have to work on," said Del Piero.
"There are lots of areas we can improve and the message was clear: we have to learn and take full concentration regardless of results, whether we are losing or not, so we don't have these kinds of results in the future."
