Rome  - The Italian football federation (FIGC) has said it doesn't expect Brazilian striker Amauri to be naturalized and therefore available for the Italian national team before the end of the qualification phase to the 2010 World Cup.

La Gazzetta dello Sport Tuesday quoted president Giancarlo Abete as saying that "the opinion of FIGC is that Italy will finish the qualification with the current line-up.

"The (Italian) citizenship of Amauri will arrive after the last games of the Azzurri (in mid-October). Then it will be the selector (Marcello Lippi) to make his choices. The federation, however, confirms its appreciation for the Brazilian player, both under a human and a sportive aspect."

Abete said that the Ministry of interior won't issue the citizenship before the end of October.

Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira, 29, applied for the citizenship after his Brazilian-born wife, Cynthia Cosini Valaderes, obtained it in March through his Italian ancestors.

The striker said he would be pleased to play with the Azzurri, although in January he appeared set on playing his first game with Brazil, which would make him unavailable for the Azzurri.

Juventus, which he joined in 2008, denied him the permit to accept the call of Brazil coach Dunga, claiming it was sent too late.

With three qualifiers left, the world champions Azzurri lead Group 8 one point ahead of Ireland, who host them in October in one of their two remaining games. (dpa)