Italy coach Marcello Lippi is set to hand Villareal striker Giuseppe Rossi a chance to show more of his stuff in his second game for the Azzurri in their World Cup qualifier against Montenegro in Lecce Wednesday night.
Rossi, 21, played only 20 minutes of Saturday's goalless draw in Bulgaria but showed a few moves that stood out amid a lacklustre Azzurri forward display.
Lippi indicated Tuesday the former Manchester United player would play a bigger part against Montenegro.
He said Rossi had fully recovered from a muscle strain and told reporters: ''We discovered him on Saturday and it's highly likely that you'll rediscover him tomorrow''.
Rossi, who has blossomed as a finisher at Villareal, is tipped to claim the left-hand berth in attack from Udinese's Antonio Di Natale, who looked tired against the Bulgarians.
Lippi, who has called Rossi ''a born footballer,'' is believed to regard the Italian-American youngster as the first really promising addition to his World Cup winners.
On the other side of the front line, Di Natale's clubmate Simone Pepe may get his second cap after making a confident debut in Sofia.
In the middle, Fiorentina's Alberto Gilardino has a chance to stake a lasting claim to the no.9 shirt with Luca Toni missing through suspension.
Gilardino has refound the form that led to a 24-million-euro move from Parma to AC Milan three years ago and is keen to clinch his place as Toni continues to suffer the lack of touch that dogged him at Euro 2008.
Lippi on Tuesday gave the strongest of hints that the midfield and defence that stemmed Bulgaria's attacks would be confirmed against Montenegro.
Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi has shaken off a thigh strain while AC Milan 'pitbull' Gennaro Gattuso is also fit after being rested, he said.
The defence, with iconic captain Fabio Cannavaro back to his best alongside Euro 2008 find Giorgio Chiellini, is reportedly confident of handling Montenegro's frontman Mirko Vucinic, a striker they have come to know well in his two years at Roma.
The back four will also be looking out for the pin-up boy of Montenegrin soccer, 18-year-old Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic, who scored in Montenegro's recent 2-2 draw against Bulgaria.
''Stevan is very important to us,'' coach Zoran Filipovic said.
''He is very young but he has a great mentality''.
After three games Italy is top of World Cup 2010 Qualifying Group Eight with 7 points followed by Ireland with 4 from 2, Bulgaria and Montenegro with 2 from 2, Cyprus with 1 from 2 and Georgia with 1 from 3.
Ireland hosts Cyprus on Wednesday while Bulgaria travels to Georgia.
The qualifying campaign then goes into a winter break until February 11 (Ireland-Georgia) and March 28 (Cyprus-Georgia, Ireland-Bulgaria and Montenegro-Italy).
