Mario Balotelli still habours Italy hopes

Published on: 12 May 2010

Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli is adamant he will soon make the step up to the senior Italy team.

The 19-year-old was overlooked by Marcello Lippi for the World Cup finals in South Africa, but he insists he took it on the chin and it is only a matter of time before he makes it into the Azzuri.

Balotelli, born to Ghanaian parents in Italy, refused to play at the World Cup with Ghana but he is not ready to rescind his decision.

“I have yet to decide where I will go on holiday, but it will certainly be a place where I will be able to watch the World Cup on tv,” Balotelli told La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper yesterday as he met Gianni Grazioli in Vicenza, the secretary general of the Italian Players’ Association.

The meeting was arranged for Balotelli to reconcile with Veneto fans after he said he was ‘disgusted’ with the Verona people in the wake of a Serie A match with Chievo last January.

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