Toni: Roma first, Italy second

Roma striker Luca Toni is hoping that his two-goal display against Genoa yesterday caught the eye of Italy coach Marcello Lippi.

The 32-year-old, on loan from Bayern Munich until the end of the season, notched his first goals since his return to Serie A football in the 3-0 win. Toni made the move to Roma at the start of this month following a difficult spell in the Bundesliga, where a lack of playing time has damaged his chances of making Italy's FIFA World Cup™ squad.

But the striker is hopeful yesterday's performance will have gone some way to remedying that. "Lippi knows what I'm capable of in the national side and I've already had many happy moments wearing that shirt," he told reporters. "I know the better I do at Roma the more chances I will have to join the national side. Right now, what's important for me is to score many goals to put Roma ahead."

The result against Genoa marked Roma's third win in four games and extended I Giallorossi's unbeaten run to 10 matches. Their next league match is at Juventus, who are also battling for a place in the UEFA Champions League, and Toni is hopeful his team can produce another winning performance.

"We are happy and the better we do, the more enthusiastic we are," he added. "We'll have to play Juve now and we hope it will be a great match."

Source: FIFA.com