In a surprising decision, Maldini also called 34-year-old Inter Milan defender Giuseppe Bergomi while dropping from the list of 21 players Chelsea's star Gianfranco Zola and Lazio's striker Pierluigi Casiraghi.Juventus striker Alessandro del Piero, who suffered a right thigh strain in Wednesday's Champions Cup final against Real Madrid, was not immediately included in the list, pending medical examinations.

Maldini suggested that Del Piero, Italy's top star, may recover by the start of the World Cup and become Italy's 22nd player.

Del Piero strained his leg during the second half of the cup final but still completed the match. A final decision about Del Piero will be taken by Italian officials by the June 2 deadline set by the International Soccer Federation (Fifa) for presenting the final 22-men lists.

Baggio and Bergomi, returning to thenational team after long absences, Fiorentina's midfielder Sandro Cois and Juventus' defender Gianluca Pessotto were the only novelty in an otherwise conservative list including young striker Filppo Inzaghi, AC Milan veteran defenders Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, long-tested midfielders Roberto di Matteo, Demetrio Albertini and Dino Baggio (no relation with Roberto) and goalkeepers Angelo Peruzzi and Gianluca Pagliuca.

Roberto Baggio, Italy's 1994 World Cup hero, had played a single match with the Azzurri since then. Bergomi, who will be starting in his fourth World Cup at France '98, had last played an international match with Italy in 1991. Bergomi was part of the 1982 team which won the World Cup title in Spain.

Cesare Maldini, whose son Paolo is Italy's captain-defender, reluctantly left home Zola and Casiraghi who scored decisive goals in World Cup qualifying.

Other top players included in Italy's World Cup team were strikers Christian Vieri of Atletico Madrid and Fabrizio Ravanelli ofOlympique Marseille, Inter Milan's forward Francesco Moriero and defender Alessandro Nesta of Lazio.

Italy, which is bracketed in Group B with Chile, Cameroon and Austria, will play its first World Cup match against the Latin American team at Bordeaux on June 11.