Francesco Totti is coming back for the World Cup

Now that the silly Euro 08 tournament, meaningless Confederations Cup, and all those pesky World Cup qualifiers are over, Francesco Totti thinks he might be ready to end his firmly held international retirement just in time for the World Cup. He told La Repubblicca yesterday:

"I will decide in April. If Marcello Lippi calls me up, if I am fit and if the group wants me, I will go."

Sure, not deciding until April, but it sounds like he's already decided -- he's going to South Africa. Which is a big turnaround from his decision to leave the squad after Italy won the 2006 World Cup, the year he spent mulling his decision before finally making it official in July 2007, and the repeated rejections of then national team manager Roberto Donadoni's advances.

In his absence, the team has struggled through poor form, a limp attack, and the jeers of their own fans, so they'll be eager to welcome his convenient return. The only question will be if he can stay healthy for the main event -- he wasn't fully recovered from an ankle injury that required metal plates to be inserted for the 2006 World Cup and he's had a steady stream of injuries since then. So now that he's got Totti's intent, Marcello Lippi might want to look into cryogenically freezing him until June just to be safe.

By : sports.yahoo.com