WORLD CUP UPDATE

THE Italian media yesterday called for the inclusion of Roberto Baggio in Italy's World Cup squad after the veteran striker completed one of his best seasons ever, with low-ranking Bologna, scoring 22 goals in league matches.

''Maldini, can you leave Baggio home now?'' read the front page headline of Italy's largest sports daily, Gazzetta dello Sport.

''This Baggio can't be left home,'' commented Milan's authoritative daily Corriere della Sera.

''Baggio scored two more goals to convince Maldini,'' wrote Milan's daily Il Giornale.

Italy's coach Cesare Maldini will announce the final list of 22 players for France 98 on Thursday.

Until a few weeks ago Roberto Baggio, Italy's World Cup hero in 1994, was expected to be left out of the list following a long absence from the national team.

A former player with Fiorentina, Juventus, and AC Milan, Baggio boosted his chances to get a place in the World Cup team by scoring two goals in Bologna's 2-1 win against Lazio in the last Serie A match on Saturday.

Only Oliver Bierhoff and Ronaldo scored more goals than Baggio in Serie A.

A last-minute inclusion of the imaginative 31-year-old may mean the exclusion of other questionable starters such as Gianfranco Zola, of Chelsea, and Enrico Chiesa, of Parma.

Baggio said in recent interviews he was dreaming to make France ''my last Word Cup.''

''I did my best to convince Maldini I deserve a place. I'm ready to start as a reserve player,'' q Brazil coach Mario Zagallo has said that he is worried about his squad's lack of preparation time for the World Cup, although he considered his players the best in the world.

''Never was the preparation time this short,'' said Zagallo at the weekend. ''We're going to play in Europe, we have little preparation time, and no adversary will want Brazil to win its fifth world title.''

Training began with just nine players present due to a spate of injuries, club commitments, and a bout of influenza. As a result, Zagallo will have to wait until he gets to France this week to get down to any serious work.

The Brazilian squad is scheduled to fly to France on Thursday and plays its first game, against Scotland, on June 10. Asked if three weeks' training was enough, the coach replied: ''I have to admit it isn't.'' However, he added he considered his players the best in the world and was confident this year's line-up was a more united one than Brazil sent to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where it walked away with a bronze.

''We are the best in the world because we have won the World Cup four times. And we also have the best players in the world.'' qIn a mounting dispute, which may affect Gabriel Batistuta's concentration in the World Cup, Fiorentina's president Vittorio Cecchi Gori said he did not plan to meet the transfer demands of the Argentine striker.

Batistuta, who is expected to lead the Argentina attack at France 98, said last week he wanted to leave the Florentine team after seven years and get new motivations with another Italian club.

The Argentine forward, who has scored 21 goals in the just- concluded Serie A season, has been reportedly offered rich transfer fees by Parma, Lazio, and Roma.

''Contracts must be honoured, and Batistuta's contract with Fiorentina lasts two more years,'' Cecchi Gori, a movie tycoon and politician said in an interview to his own private television network, TeleMontecarlo, on Saturday night.

Fiorentina finished fifth in the Italian league this season, earning a place in the UEFA Cup.

Batistuta's transfer is also being opposed by the newly-signed coach of Fiorentina, Giovanni Trapattoni, who is returning to Italy from Bayern Munich.

qTHE USA were held to a goalless draw by Macedonia in San Jose, California, on Saturday. It was a friendly the Americans hoped would help them prepare for their clash with Yugoslavia next month in the World Cup finals.

Playing without several key players, the US were thwarted by a tough Macedonian team that had failed to reach the finals.

Strikers Brian McBride and Cobi Jones had good chances to score for the home team bus missed. In the final warm-up matches before leaving for France, where they will face Germany, Iran, and Yugoslavia in the first round, the Americans will play Kuwait in Portland, Oregon, next week and then Scotland in Washington DC on May 30.