Well that depends on what your definition of "beginning" is...at the start of the season I wasn't too sure if he'd make the team especially since Capello dropped that rotation pretence and relegated Il Capitano to the bench full time. Not to mention the emergence of Luca Toni this season Iaquinta who got a couple of callups as well, but the latter has dropped off the radar of late and Toni still has to regain his form for the latter part of the season so DP's goal against Germany goes a long way to him getting into the team. That said, his history with Lippi did always bode well for him; I'm just glad to say that he fully deserves his place.
As for my avatar, I also thought it looked like Kaka after I cropped the original but yeah, its Juninho. :smile: