Italia: La Nazionale II

a very different call up since qualification is sealed.

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino)

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Cristiano Biraghi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Andrea Cistana (Brescia), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Armando Izzo (Torino), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma)

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Jorginho (Chelsea), Rolando Mandragora (Udinese), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma)

Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Shanghai Shenhua), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna)

bolded some new or recently returning names

Mancini confirmed his team is pretty set now except 3 positions or so, injuries permitting.

GK: Donnarumma, Sirigu, Meret
FB: Emerson, Spinazzola, Florenzi, De Sciglio
CB: Chiellini, Bonucci, Acerbi, Romagnoli
CM: Jorginho, Verratti, Barella, Sensi, Pellegrini, Tonali
FW: Insigne, Chiesa, Bernardeschi, Zaniolo
CF: Belotti, Immobile

The main challengers for those 3 not bolded are Cragno, Mancini, Izzo, Di Lorenzo, Biraghi.

The rest tried should be either back to the youth squads (Castrovilli, Kean, Orsolini, etc.) or excluded for now (El Shaarawy, Balotelli, Lasagna, etc.)

El Shaarawy should most definitely be selected as he is the most skilled as a whole within the forwards and tends to perform relatively well for Azzurri. Balotelli on the other hand is not the same and continues to have the drama around him, "resurgences" and is just finished as a whole, despite his past for Italia.

Would pick Mancini & Di Lorenzo as well given they offer a considerable amount respectively, as well.

El Shaarawy chose to semi-retire in his 20s instead of raising his level. No chance he gets in ahead of the the existing 4. If no injury comes to them, it would be min boggling to leave out Insigne, Chiesa, Bernardeschi and Zaniolo.

Difficult to pick Mancini over Romganoli but not out of the question. Di Lorenzo or De Sciglio doesn't matter too much, both are fine.

I agree on El Shaarawy and it was a thoroughly disappointing move from him in what already was a poorly guided footballer. Thankfully he is still 27 and most Europeans who go to China usually choose to go back since its so uninspiring to play there so I hope that is the case.

De Sciglio is a player weak in his mentality but usually performs well for Azzurri so I would include him added with his ambidextrous option.

The azzurrrini won again.

A renovation of the squad and change of coach after the Euros. Di Biagio was replaced with Nicolato. They have yet to play a top opponent since they are in the qualifiers, but the results are great. In 6 matches the U21 haven't even conceded a goal.

4-0 Moldova
5-0 Luxembourg
0-0 Ireland
1-0 Armenia
3-0 Iceland
6-0 Armenia

A lot of the old squad graduated (at least temporarily) even if they are still like Donnarumma, Tonali and Zaniolo. Where the senior team is looking for a CF, Nicolate has too many. In last nights he played with 3 CF basically, and subbed in another from the bench.

Versions of this team reached the final of the Euro U19 last year, and the semis of the WC U20 this year, now they are moving on the Euro U21 next year.

Last match:

Notable absences are Luca Pellgrini (LB), Bastoni (CB), Sottil (FW), Esposito (CF) and Favilli (CF). Scamacca (CF) came in and scored.

Hope some of the 6 CFs in this team can make the jump. Luca and Adjapong should be in the senior team in due time considering our weak fullbacks they have it easiest. Many of them already playing at top level which is great to see.

#Nazionale
In attesa della lista per l’#Europeo, Mancini chiama 28 #Azzurri: domani il raduno a Roma.

La notizia https://t.co/RYlu0cWtku

Martedì si aggregheranno al gruppo anche Emerson e Jorginho.#VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/mV3QvB6F69

— Nazionale Italiana (@Vivo_Azzurro) May 30, 2021

Moise Kean not there instead Bernardeschi is on the list

Toloi is italian now, nice

Pretty straightforward selections. I like the Raspadori inclusion

Attack is the obvious weak spot but I like the team overall

Unfortunate for Mancini. Good call on Toloi though, who has been great this season.

That midfield is excellent.

Surprised not to see Pessina, risky to take Sensi instead of him. An injury is always around the corner.

Very glad to see Raspadori there. Its probably too early for him but in terms of style he is probably the best fit for Mancini than the rest of the strikers. Politano must feel bad seeing Bernardeschi there instead of him.

McLewis wrote:
That midfield is excellent.

Would have loved to see Zaniolo in the mix. Hope he can recover for the world cup

Sensi injured and misses the tournament. Pessina who stayed with the team will now be officially included. The outcome that made sense.

Pellegrini injured and out of the euros, second midfielder out. Really looked forward to seeing him there.

Castrovilli takes his place.

For the first time since 2012, Italy has a formidable frontline in Immobile, Insigne, Berardi, Chiesa and Belotti

Back then there was Balotelli, Cassano, Di Natale and Giovinco(?) I think

I'd say they're strong contendors to win it but i've seen that CB partnership get ruined on so many occasions.

Insigne, Barella, Jorginho, Verratti form the core of Mancini's plan. Berardi and Locatelli joining recently.

We need Verratti to get fit asap especially with Sensi, Pellegrini and Zaniolo injured.

Italy is so complete rn. The best gen after the one that won their last WC easily

so apparently that was the first time in history Italy scored 3 goals in 90 minutes of a Euro game

Hapless_Hans wrote:so apparently that was the first time in history Italy scored 3 goals in 90 minutes of a Euro game

Isn't it a beautiful stat

Also it's the longest unbeaten streak we've had since Pozzo in the pre-war, but that is made easier by the fact the euros got postponed so only qualifiers, nations league, and friendlies have been played. 27 games unbeaten or something like that.

Also 9 matches won in a row without conceding a goal.

Robespierre wrote:Good morning Campioni d' Europa

Good morning, it is a beautiful one

Capitano grazie a voi oggi è più bello essere Italiani…..mi raccomando copri la bambina https://t.co/QLiRIP1ULj

— Fabio Cannavaro (@fabiocannavaro) July 12, 2021