Australia

Italy’s Euros hopes may have been dampened, but don’t write them off yet


The gleaming Ferrari has now been tarnished just a bit.

What had previously been polished and perfect now has a bothersome scuff mark.

Italy beat Austria this morning, but only just.

This was supposed to be a race between an F50 and a Puch 500, so heavily favoured were the Italians before the match. And with good reason.

Italy had aced the group stage, winning three, scoring seven, conceding none. In fact, they had not conceded in 11 previous games, winning every one of them. They have not lost for 31 matches now.

But they did let in a goal against Austria, and their aura of near-invincibilty has certainly now been damaged.

The Austrian players thought they had taken the lead in the 65th minute, but Marko Arnautovic’s header was overturned by VAR for offside. (

AP/Pool: Frank Augstein

)

If not for a couple of (correct) VAR decisions, Italy could even be out of the competition.

The match was much closer than many expected, and not just on the scoreboard. While Italy showed glimpses of the free-flowing, possession-based football that has become their hallmark under Roberto Mancini, they also looked flustered for long periods, as Austria’s players threw themselves into tackles and chased and chased in midfield.

Loading

This was not Austria simply sitting back and absorbing pressure and looking to strike on the counter-attack, it was a dogged battle that Italy only just edged.

While on the surface that will please the Azzurri’s rivals, the news is mostly good for Mancini’s men.

Firstly, they’re through to the quarter-finals. You can imagine the hand-wringing if they had collapsed in a heap the first time they were put under any real pressure, undoing two years of near-flawless performances.

Instead they get to lick their wounds and fight again another day.

And, crucially, they have shown they can win in more ways than one. Italy has not fallen a goal behind in more than 24 hours of football, and while we still haven’t found out how they would handle that novelty, they were put through the wringer today and came out the other side intact.

Ciro Immobile with his head in his hands.
Ciro Immobile had no luck and was substituted in the second half.(

AP: Justin Tallis

)

Mancini will have learnt a lot and will take that information to the latter stages of the tournament.

The players, too, will gain from the experience, with some very tough games to come if they are to even reach the final — starting with the winner of Belgium vs Portugal in the next round.

Impressive squad depth will be key

Loading

The other positive to come out of this game for Italy was a demonstration that they have one of the deepest squads in the tournament.

Both extra-time goals were scored by substitutes, in Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina, and it was the extra boost off the bench in midfield that helped them finally surge past Austria.

In his toughest decision so far, Mancini left group-stage hero Manuel Locatelli on the bench in favour of midfield pass-master Marco Verratti. 

An Italian soccer player raises his arms to the heavens in triumph after scoring a goal at Euro 2020.
Italy’s Federico Chiesa finally broke the deadlock with a well-taken goal in extra-time against Austria at Wembley.(

AP/Pool: Frank Augstein

)

There will be calls for Locatelli to get the nod next game, as he was lively when he came on, but in reality Verratti was superb in the middle of the pitch, both winning the ball and distributing it with aplomb.

What a luxury for Mancini to have both men at his disposal.

And it’s a similar case on other areas of the pitch, with Chiesa’s brilliant goal surely earning him a starting spot on the right side of attack, after Domenico Berardi impressed in that role in earlier games, and Andrea Belotti pushing Ciro Immobile for the job of target man. 

All good problems for Mancini to have as he begins to plot the demise of Portugal or Belgium.

For now, Italy remains the team to beat at Euro 2020, alongside world champions France.



Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button