Italy Coach Wary Of Black Meteors

Italy's Olympic football team coach, Claudio Gentile on Monday named an experienced squad for the Athens games but remains cagey about group B contenders, the Black Meteors of Ghana.

The Italians play Ghana's Black Meteors in the first group B game at the Volos stadium an expected grudge match on August 12.

The Italy coach says it will be a miracle for his team to pick a medal since Japan, Paraguay and especially Ghana are in better condition than his boys.

Though Claudio Gentile has a squad that can boast of Italy's best talents including Parma's superstar Alberto Gilardino, Andre Pirlo of AC Milan and Matteo Ferrari and Ivan Pellizoli both of Roma, he chooses to remain unenthusiastic about their chances.

Claudio Gentile announced his squad for the Olympics - but played down the chances of his squad repeating the performances that saw them lift the European Under-21 Championship.

Gentile maintains that they have to forget their victory in the European Under-21 Championship and start with the same mentality as they did in that tournament.

Ghana's Black Meteors have quite a number of players who ply their trade in the Serie A with Stephen Appiah (Juventus) Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan (both of Udinese) and John Mensah (Modena) meeting up with teammates and colleagues in the Azzurrini.

The last time both sides meet at an Olympics was the Atlanta 96 games where the Black Meteors of Ghana beat the Azzurrini 3-2.