Previewing Roma’s International Break

It’s time to make international breaks great again!

It seems like it was only just a few weeks ago when we were thrown into yet another two week hiatus from all things Roma. Alas, this pause is upon us again, and when you combine this with the election finishing up here in the USA, you have recipe for a week of terrible TV with non-stop moaning and groaning. But fear not calcio fans! This International Break is going to be different! It has its fair share of great match-ups, Roma players in action, and one very exciting event: some Roma players will not be going anywhere near a football for two weeks!!! (and I promise that isn’t a dig at Rruan Jesus)

Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images

Roma Call-ups for gli Azzurri:

There can be only one! Danielle De Rossi is once again in the squad, coming off a celebration in recognition of his 100th appearance in the Azzurri shirt last time around (he is presently at 108 caps, good enough for 6th all time.) Despite it only being a friendly, DDR should be fairly excited to face Germany, a fixture that he has had a history of missing out on. While he did start in the Balotelli-inspired 2-1 win in Euro 2012, De Rossi was suspended for the epic 2006 WC Semi Final encounter and was injured for the Azzurri’s shootout loss in last summer’s Euros. One can only wonder just how much of a difference a healthy DDR could have made in that heartbreaking loss. While players like Stefano Sturaro and Marco Parolo performed valiantly in midfield, DDR would have undoubtedly been an upgrade and knows a thing or two about making penalties in a critical tournament shootout.

Roma Call-ups for Other Squads:

Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

• Bosnia & Herzegovina : Edin Dzeko, the man of the hour at Roma and for his NT, will have a teammate to thank during his upcoming WC Qualifier for Bosnia. His side come up against Greece, who’s historically strong defense will be missing its star player, Kostas Manolas, through injury.
• Brazil: Alisson, Roma’s “designated EL goalkeeper” and Brazil’s “designated starter”, will have exciting qualifiers on-tap against Argentina and Peru.
• Egypt: Mohammed Salah, coming off a beautiful hat trick performance on Sunday, will have a WC qualifier against Ghana as Egypt prepare for AFCON 2017.
• Paraguay: Juan Iturbe. Yeah, less said the better....he’ll be plying his trade for Paraguay just as he does for Roma; on the bench, far away from the pitch.
• Poland: Wojciech Szczesny, Roma’s “designated Serie A goalkeeper”, will have matches against Romania and Slovenia coming up.
• Azzurrini U21: Federico Ricci
• Azzurrini U20: Elio Capradossi, Christian D’Urso, Arturo Calabresi
• Azzurrini U19: Riccardo Marchizza, Alessandro Bordin, Davide Frattesi, Marco Tumminello
• Brazil U20: Gerson

Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Up Next:

Perhaps the most critical and exciting feature of this international break is that it is exactly that. It’s a break. Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan are amongst a long list of Giallorossi players who are not called up to their national sides or 100% healthy at the moment and will benefit from a much needed pause in matches. A quick update on that (longgg) list in the next post.