A long trip in terms of kilometres, short in duration and physically demanding. But also indispensable for testing new modules, men and motivations. Luciano Spalletti’s Italy, which flew to the United States on Tuesday to play two friendly matches (Thursday in Fort Lauderdale against Venezuela and Sunday in New Jersey against Ecuador) is still under construction and is in a hurry to find certainties in view of the European Championship summer in Germany.
The match against Venezuela “is a very difficult match for us and we need to know everything so as not to make a bad impression – said Spalletti – It’s a very physical team and we will need it to gain new experiences and growth. We need to propose something modern”.
The objective is to achieve a certain type of mentality “which is built not only in matches, but also in training – underlined the coach – for which you work seriously. Wearing the national team shirt is heaven, it means happiness”.
For further information Agenzia ANSA Sinner surprised by the Azzurri, first training in Miami with the tennis champion – Calcio – Ansa.it The South Tyrolean welcomed by the applause of the players and the staff of the national team. The coach tells him, ‘take an example’ (ANSA)
Even more “in this case, because we come to embrace such a large Italian community in the world”.
The coach and Donnarumma, who supported him, underlined the importance of Gigi Buffon in the role of companion. “Buffon gave me a great hand, because Gigi was the best goalkeeper in the history of football. It’s very important to have him, he helps us a lot here” said the PSG goalkeeper. The coach then focused briefly on the Acerbi-Juan Jesus affair: “In my opinion, in terms of publicity, we are perhaps above what happened in reality. We need to take it easy, they are both good guys”.
The problem that requires more urgent solutions is that of an asphyxiated attack, even if the coach is convinced that he has the right man to solve it in the Italian-Argentine Mateo Retegui.
Moreover, if scrolling through the Serie A scoring charts you have to go down to the 9 goals of Orsolini and Berardi (injured and unavailable for a long time) to find the first Italians, it means that the goal problem is there and it is serious.
Immobile remained at home, dealing with his worst season in Lazio, and Scamacca who plays little for Atalanta and when he was called up to the Azzurro he disappointed. A ‘physical’ center forward is urgently needed and the coach tests Lorenzo Lucca, the size of a basketball player (2.01m), from Udinese. “Having someone so tall, strong in the head, having the opportunity to benefit from quality like that – the coach underlined – in just a few minutes is sometimes useful.” With Verona midfielder Michael Folorunsho and Torino defender Raoul Bellanova he forms the trio to ‘try out’ in the USA.
The words of praise reserved by the coach for Jannik Sinner during and after his surprise visit to the training ground (“now it would be easy to talk about self-discipline and motivation, just take a little piece of him”) were another way of returning to the behavior off the pitch, on the professional role that players must have and on night-time video games that take away hours of sleep and, therefore, energy.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
2024-03-21 20:27:32
#Italy #Venezuela #friendly #match #tonight #Miami #News
