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www.chinaview.cn 2006-05-31 09:49:34

    ROME, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Francesco Totti will start Wednesday's World Cup warm-up with Switzerland - the first time he has started a match since breaking a leg in February, local media reported Tuesday.

    "Francesco has no problem of any kind," said Italy coach Marcello Lippi, "I'm not afraid of him going into tough tackles, he's already had some in training. He'll be fine".

    Totti returned to club action earlier this month but only had a walk-on part in Roma's last two matches of the season.

    Against the Swiss, Lippi said the striker would play in the " hole" behind an unnamed center-forward, with Juve star Alessandro Del Piero out on the left.

    "Totti won't have to work so hard as he would have done if he'd been further back in midfield, behind two out-and-out strikers," the coach said, "And Alessandro is great on the left".

    After Wednesday's match in Geneva, Italy plays its last pre-World Cup friendly against Ukraine on Friday.

    Juve full-back Gianluca Zambrotta has picked up a muscle strainand may have to skip Italy's first two matches in Germany, against Ghana and the United States, the report said.

    Italy's third opponent in the group is the Czech Republic. Enditem

Editor: Liu Dan
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