[arivanjj]

Carlo Ancelotti has named his 23-man squad for the Club World Cup in Japan, including the injured Ronaldo and Marek Jankulovski.

Milan are participating champions of Europe in the tournament that runs from December 7 to 16.

Although Ronaldo and full-back Jankulovski are currently out of action, the Coach hopes to have them both back in time to play in Japan.

Il Fenomeno has been ruled out of Saturday’s Serie A match with Juventus and most likely the Champions League decider with Celtic on Tuesday evening due to a recurring calf problem.

Under FIFA rules Milan can bring 23 players, but Alexandre Pato cannot take part, as the 18-year-old’s registration can only be made official from January 2008.

The Rossoneri only enter the competition from the semi-finals on December 13, where they will face one of Sepahan, Waitakere United and Urawa Red Diamonds.

Boca Juniors enter from the other semi-final and the trophy will be assigned in Yokohama on December 16.

Meanwhile, Boca Juniors have been told they cannot use new signing Juan Roman Riquelme in the Club World Cup.

The Argentine just completed his move from Villarreal, but is not eligible because he missed the “strict deadline of Friday November 23 2007 for submitting a final list of players,” explained FIFA.

Riquelme was not on the preliminary list handed in last week.

Milan squad: Dida, Kalac, Fiori; Cafù, Maldini, Kaladze, Nesta, Simic, Jankulovski, Bonera, Serginho, Oddo; Emerson, Gattuso, Seedorf, Gourcuff, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Brocchi; Inzaghi, Gilardino, Kakà, Ronaldo.


Channel4

[Tennie]

One of Japan's famous sumo wrestlers is a Kaka fan.

Ambro gave an interview in which he said he's in the form of his life; he thanked Carletto for the confidence the coach has showed in him. He also said that the more Italian players talked about France coach Raymond Domenech, the more satisfaction it gave Domenech.

A New Milan Point shop has been opened in one of the Yokohama shopping malls. According to a Japanese newspaper, it's been ten times more successful than the Barca shop was last year. They've sold 10,000 Kaka jerseys already.

Galliani gave an interview in which he stated that national federations should compensate clubs for the NT duty of club players. He also said Platini was doing a good job. Galliani also stated that Pato's transfer (and the associated work permits, etc etc) should be done and Pato should be an official Milan player available for selection by January 9 or 10. Pato will miss the winter training session in Dubai (from Jan 2-10) and the exhibition game against the UAE national team.

Today's morning training session was mostly drills. There wasn't a practice game in the morning session, though there were a couple of games of football-tennis (? that's how it translates. hope it makes sense). Emerson and Serginho beat Jankulovski and Gilardino in one of them. Serginho has fully recovered and is training with the team. Simic is doing individualized training still. Dida didn't train but is expected to be available. Ronie didn't train. There will also be an afternoon training session closed to the public.

EDIT: Milan will face Urawa Reds in the semi. Urawa defeated Sepahan 3-1.

(source: various articles on acmilan.com's italian page).

This post has been edited by Tennie: Dec 10 2007, 01:25 PM