Roberto Mancini’s men, very comfortable since the start of the competition, play a very lively form of play. A small revolution.
What does the belly of the happiest team in the Euro contain? Italy faces Austria in the round of 16 this Saturday and the answer will probably be, once again, incomplete: the selection led by Roberto Mancini seems in every way superior to the Nati, and we do not see how the hovercraft glimpsed for two weeks could break through at Wembley.
The football maxim that requires caution has its limits: in the pool, the Nazionale digested Turkey (3-0), Switzerland, the next opponent of the Blues (3-0), and Wales (1-0 ). Opponents who navigate between the dropped, the limited and the honorable. But no cador in sight, even if nothing is given in this Euro where, with rare exceptions, the small ones hang on with very sharp claws – without however obtaining the jackpot. Austria, two wins on their own against Ukraine and North Macedonia, appeared very limited when the opposition strengthened (the Netherlands went 2-0 in a group match).
Instant statistics, the value of which would be depreciated if they were not accompanied by a spellbinding game: Italy is the only team to have won their three games without conceding a single goal. She has shot more than anyone, and holds the record for attempted deep passes. Figures that testify to a mastery of spaces and intervals. Above all, there emerges from the teammates of Parisian Marco Verratti a strange feeling, a form of urgency. Sensation noticeable against Turkey and Switzerland but whose climax (or perhaps the tangible side) is found in their last game against Wales. Already qualified, leading to the notice board, the Italians continue like masos to run, rush into the Welsh house by the door, the window, the fireplace… They are carried by something, that’s for sure. A sort of unfulfilled desire, of lust.
Index on the chinstrap
By touches, thanks to this very high pressing and these very active sides (the Roman Leonardo Spinazzola in the first place), we see a heavy metal football imitation as practiced by Klopp’s Liverpool and redesigned in Italian style: something unusual in the sphere of selection football, which has applied for more than a decade (Spain in 2008?) an anti-risk balm to the game. There, we suffocate the opponent, we press him, the index on the jugular. The movements are confusing, until the fault: the former coach Antonio Conte praises the transitions between offensive and defensive phases and Claudio Ranieri speaks of a “Wolf Pack”.
A few days ago, Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi explained: “We always try not to let the opponents breathe, we take them high. Our mentality is to go all together in the opposing half of the field. ” Federico Chiesa, a man of the match against the Welsh and a delightful winger of instinct (he drags his ragged driving at Juventus in Turin) describes this impression of urgency by a “enthusiasm” which keeps the players between them: “There is a lot of electricity in the air, the atmosphere between us is very good. The manager is responsible for this: he has instilled enthusiasm in the group in recent years. We are very united. ”
Roberto Mancini, who took over from Gian Piero Ventura after the fiasco of non-qualification for the World Cup in Russia, and very irregular campaigns (the team did not come out of the pools in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups , made a final in 2012) ensures that “Something special has been created in Rome”, where the Italians have played all their matches so far. The former Manchester City and Inter manager is on an impressive run of unbeaten streak (30 consecutive games without defeat), a record that dates back more than eighty years.
Change of direction
Without denying the immutable foundations of transalpine football – the embargo on opposing attacks – Mancini raised the gray matter of his team from one block, from a mastery of defense to that of the midfield. With four rooms, Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli, Marco Verratti and Nicolo Barella for three places: luxury. Since the beginning of the Euro, Italy’s training has narrated this change of direction. One session a day, to polish this short and lively game, which prioritizes the collective logic: the less you touch the ball, the more it circulates quickly between the players, which forces you to move accordingly.
Italy is a fresh team. Apart from the old defense captains (Chiellini, Bonucci, Acerbi) and some important elements (Verratti, Florenzi, Immobile, Insigne), most are playing their first competition. Maybe a handicap when the games get tight. But Mancini set up a business of renewal, which he built on the «patience» (and therefore the trust) given to its players. As a compelling reason, the one who had not played a single minute of a 1990 World Cup played at home, has already mobilized all his field players.
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