Friendly Fire

July 12, 1999
Juventus Official Site

Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti will field an unchanged side for the second friendly against the Valle d'Aosta XI, which will kick off at 6pm at the Perucca stadium in Saint-Vincent (live television coverage on Rai 2).

Ancelotti will again try out the three-man defence of Tudor, Ferrara and Iuliano, which looked solid in last Thursday's match against the Valle d'Aosta players. Rampulla will be in goal.

Birindelli, Tacchinardi, Pessotto and Bachini will form the midfield, while Perrotta will play behind Amoruso and Rigoni in attack.

Ancelotti confirmed he would give a second-half run-out to some of the players reported back for training on Saturday - which could mean an appearance for Inzaghi, Kovacevic or maybe even Del Piero. Del Piero has been kept under strict observation by the Bianconeri coach, who seemed satisfied with the player's first training session.

The fans have already been able to see Alex on the field with his team-mates. Almost 2,000 fans attended yesterday afternoon's first training session for the full squad- and the crowd welcomed the players with cheers and applause. Missing were Pessotto, Fonseca and Zidane, who will be training separately for another 10-15 days; Esnaider, busy with his usual session in the pool; Montero, victim of a foot injury suffered during the holidays; and Oliseh, who should arrive at the training camp within the next few hours.

In the meantime Ancelotti is starting to prepare for the first match in the Intertoto Cup, scheduled for 17 July against Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt. From Wednesday there will be less work for those who will play in Romania, while the rest of the squad will follow the usual training programme.
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