Destro joins race for place in Italy World Cup squad

Cagliari: Italy went into Euro 2012 with a shortage of in-form strikers but that is unlikely to be the case at the World Cup with several finding the net at the right time.

AS Roma forward Mattia Destro has emerged as the latest candidate for a place in the squad and he boosted his chances with an opportunist hat-trick in the 3-1 win over Cagliari. Destro, who would certainly not have figured on the list at the start of the season, has scored 13 goals in only 18 Serie A appearances, several of them from the bench, since returning from a 10-month injury nightmare in December. "He has shown that he is a complete forward, not just a penalty area man," Roma coach Rudi Garcia told reporters. "He has understood that he has to give his utmost every second he is on the pitch and he must always maintain his will to win." The 23-year-old, who has played for Italy at every age level, has not had an easy time since he joined AS Roma in the 2012 close season from Siena. He initially found it difficult to get into the team, then injured his left knee in a Coppa Italia match against Inter Milan in January last year. It was predicted that he would be out of action for two months and he made a gradual return to the Roma team towards the end of last season. But after a European under-21 championship match for Italy in Israel in June he suffered a recurrence of his injury, leading to a war of words between club and country. He finally returned to action on December 8, making an instant impact after he came off the bench against Fiorentina to score the winner within eight minutes. Since then, he has not looked back. "Everyone knows I didn`t have an easy situation with such a long injury," he said. "The fact that Garcia arrived and still kept me in consideration even when I could not train or play gave me a lot of confidence." Destro made four appearances for Italy in the autumn of 2012 and was recalled again for the friendly against Spain last month. He still faces stiff competition from players such as Luca Toni (16 goals for Verona), Ciro Immobile (18 for Torino), Alberto Gilardino (13 for Genoa), Domenico Berardi (12 for Sassuolo) and Alessio Cerci (12 for Torino) and refused to discuss his World Cup chances. "I do my job every Sunday and try and help Roma as best I can," he said. Italy face England, Uruguay and Costa Rica in Group D at the Brazil finals starting on June 12.