Treat them mean, keep them keen. That might as well be the mantra of Italy boss Marcello Lippi whose predicament before the World Cup is which of Serie A's abundance of top-class strikers should join him in Germany.

The players will learn in May, but before that it is a guessing game for the goalscorers , and the reason Lippi is offering few hints is because he is still looking for clues in certain cases.

Lippi might have players in mind, but the trouble is he has so many contenders - all with worthy shouts for selection - that to make an early judgement would be presumptuous. So the plan is to be coy, and it might prove brilliantly astute.

The men in with a shout are both numerous and vulturous. They include Christian Vieri, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Gilardino, Fabrizio Miccoli, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Cristiano Lucarelli, even Filippo Inzaghi if he can stay fit.

"I am happy with the variety of forwards at my disposal," said Lippi. "The Italian league has a variety of very good forwards."
The understatement is accompanied by learned caution. The downfall of Lippi's predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni was put down to the controversial decision to exclude Gilardino from his Euro 2004 squad.

Gilardino was a 21-year-old sensation at Parma at the time - he has since been picked up by AC Milan - and topped the Serie A scoring charts. He should have been a shoe -in but the off-form Del Piero was picked instead and Italy were knocked out in the first round, goal difference their undoing after finishing level on points with group winners Sweden and second-placed Denmark.

Trapattoni had to go, and just as surely Gilardino now has to go to his first World Cup. Yet Lippi will make no promises just yet, and recently he warned the fringe members of his squad they have to make a strong case for selection, otherwise other players will enter the frame.