European countries begin their campaigns to reach the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa on Saturday.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis knows "very little" about soccer and has a lot to learn about the game, said Roberto Donadoni, who was sacked as the Serie A club's coach on Tuesday.
World champions Italy, smarting from the 3-0 drubbing by Netherlands, are likely to overhaul their team and maybe their formation for Friday's Euro 2008 match against Romania. Romania's game-plan will be much the same as against France with the focus on defence rather than goals.
Alessandro Del Piero's Euro 2008 hopes suffered a fresh blow on Saturday when Italy coach Roberto Donadoni left the striker out of his squad for Wednesday's friendly in Spain.
Italy recalled 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi on Thursday to replace Roberto Donadoni.
The world champions face Belgium in a friendly in Florence on Friday ahead of their Euro 2008 Group C matches against the Netherlands, Romania and France.
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has announced his 25-man squad for Euro 2008 qualifiers against Ukraine and Georgia.
The former AC Milan and Italy midfielder will replace Marcello Lippi, who quit after winning the World Cup in Germany last week.
Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero and Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano have been included in Italy's provisional 24-man squad for Euro 2008, coach Roberto Donadoni said on Tuesday. Del Piero, 33, has not played for the world champions in eight months but was expected to be included after finishing as Serie A's top scorer for the first time with 21 goals this term.
Italy defender Fabio Grosso has been ruled out of Saturday's European Championship qualifier against Ukraine due to a thigh strain.
World Cup holders Italy and European champions Greece got back on track in Euro 2008 qualifying on Wednesday, but England laboured to beat Andorra and Sweden suffered an upset in Northern Ireland.
He slid the ball into his own net in the 42nd minute just two minutes after the Azzurri had taken the lead.
Evergreen Francesco Totti, in his 22nd season with AS Roma, scored his first goal of the new campaign to give help them to a 3-1 win at Parma which maintained their 100 percent record in Serie A.
Parma, joint bottom of Serie A alongside Cesena, have signed Uruguay midfielder Cristian Rodriguez and Portugal forward Silvestre Varela, both on loan, the club said on Tuesday.
Andrea Pirlo and Miralem Pjanic provided the moments of magic to inspire leading Serie A duo Juventus and AS Roma to battling victories on Sunday with the gap between the sides remaining at three points.
AC Milan's winning streak ended as they were held 0-0 at home by Atalanta in Serie A on Saturday while Bologna beat struggling Hellas Verona 2-0 away to move out of the relegation zone.
Carlos Tevez scored a solo goal after a run that started inside his own half to cap an emphatic 7-0 win for Serie A leaders Juventus over hapless Parma on Sunday.
Napoli thrashed Frosinone 5-1 away to go top of Serie A on Sunday after previous leaders Inter Milan were sunk by a Domenico Berardi penalty in the fifth minute of injury time in a 1-0 home defeat against modest Sassuolo.
Fiorentina hit four goals before halftime, including a cheeky backheel by Gonzalo Rodriguez and a Panenka-style penalty from Khouma Babacar, to beat Frosinone 4-1 and join Inter Milan at the top of Serie A on Sunday.
Inter Milan's Serie A title hopes suffered a setback as they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser and were held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Carpi and leaders Napoli swept to a 4-2 win at Sampdoria.
Genoa handed Serie A leaders and titleholders Juventus a dramatic first league defeat of the season when Luca Antonini scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time to give them a 1-0 win on Wednesday.
Parma's Antonio Cassano grabbed his 100th Serie A goal with a stunning volley in a 1-1 draw at home to 10-man Bologna while Genoa's Davide Biondini secured the same result in an equally enthralling clash with Torino on Saturday.
Playmaker Kaka breathed new life into struggling AC Milan by scoring twice and 18-year-old Bryan Cristante claimed his first professional goal as they beat Atalanta 3-0 on Monday for only their fifth league win of the season.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved a penalty and Andrea Pirlo curled in a trademark free kick late in the game to give the Serie A leaders a dramatic 1-0 win at Genoa on Sunday.
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