The hard work starts here

July 9, 1999
Juventus Official Site

Carlo Ancelotti will have his full squad together from Saturday afternoon. When training kicked off on July 1 there were only fourteen senior players and six players from the youth squad. The new arrivals are Conte, Inzaghi, Davids, Mirkovic, Montero, Fonseca, Henry, Zidane, Del Piero and the new signings Van der Sar, Kovacevic, Zambrotta and Oliseh.

"This is where the training really starts," said a smiling Ancelotti. The Bianconeri coach will have two tasks in the next few days, to integrate his new players into the squad and prepare them for the Intertoto Cup, basing his team around that which played on Thursday.

Ancelotti drew a lot of positive signs from the friendly against the Valle d'Aosta XI which finished 5-0 in favour of Juventus with Amoruso bagging a hat-trick and Birindelli and Pessotto scoring a goal apiece. Ancelotti said: "The three-man defence worked well. I am very happy with Ferrara, who now seems to have made a full recovery."

The youthful Isaksson impressed and enjoyed several rounds of applause from the crowd at the Perucca stadium in Saint Vincent. "He demonstrated his considerable talent," said Ancelotti. "He has the time and the ability to become a great goalkeeper."

Ancelotti is curious to see how Alex Del Piero performs: "I expect to find out what sort of shape he is in right now. He is a key player who can give our season a lift right from the start."

After a rest day, the usual training sessions will start again on Saturday morning. In the afternoon the last to arrive will have the Mognoni test (aerobic test of the players' physical condition) and anthropometric tests (to see if players are overweight).
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