Italy’s NT Coach Antonio Conte fired back at the media following the backlash from several exclusions from the latest squad sheet.
“You need extraordinary people in order to achieve extraordinary things.” Antonio Conte’s motto proves once again that the Italy manager trusts the players who have secured the Azzurri qualification to Euro 2016 in emphatic style. Nevertheless, he expects a step up from the players who didn’t get as much game-time: “We played the European qualifying campaign with a core set of players,” said Conte during today’s press conference, “that led us to winning the group unbeaten. I have to take this into consideration. Having said that, I’m always alert and I follow what happens in the league. Okaka’s call-up is proof of that; he’s playing very well for Anderlecht. The same applies to Cerci, who is playing consistently. I’ve also called up De Silvestri. He broke his knee while playing for us, he deserves to be here.”
Giovinco and Verratti are out due to injury. “Marco played against Azerbaijan even though there was the risk to worsen his conditions. Someone else would have probably simply raised white flag.” Conte also talked about Pirlo’s absence from the squad. “We already planned not to call him up. He’s not been playing for two weeks now and I need to make my own evaluations. I rate him highly, he knows what I think of him, however, I have to be impartial in my assessments. He’ll be 37 years old next year, let’s wait and see. I have to start looking around and take into account the possibility that Pirlo cannot play anymore for Italy. Nevertheless, I hope he’ll give positive signs next March.”
The requirements for getting called up for the EUROs are clear to all. They have to show the right attitude. “Every player that comes to Coverciano,” reiterated Conte, “has to think only of the Azzurri shirt. I want the players to perceive this shirt as a second skin. We based our project on a playing style, not on single players. A good playing style always enhances the quality of single players. One crucial aspect of our project is attitude. I’ve always said that I would take into account the players’ behaviour on and off the pitch. Two or three goals won’t be enough to change my mind. I need extraordinary men in order to achieve something extraordinary.”
In order to get a positive result, a great performance will be needed on Friday, when the Azzurri take on Belgium. “They’re leading the FIFA World Rankings, this proves what kind of a development they’ve undergone. We will be playing a top team. I chose these kind of friendlies because I need to understand how far we’ve come and if we can adopt certain tactical styles.” Italy’s next game is set to be exciting, exactly like the current Serie A campaign. “The fact that Fiorentina are top of the table shows that results follow hard and well organised work, even though, on paper, it could seem that that their squad is less equipped that the traditional big teams”.
*Derived from the official FIGC website
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