With the international break around the corner, Italy boss Antonio Conte has given Azzurri fans a sense of optimism with his recent call-ups.
In the past, Conte has gotten a lot of stick for his head-scratching call-ups and rightly so. Often times, the former Juventus boss was leaving Italy’s skill players home, especially in the final third, and opted for players who weren’t quite as good but were men he could trust. As a result, Italy fans were bracing for the worst this summer at the Euros in France and were preparing for yet another early exit at a major tournament. This international break, however, Conte has gone with most, if not all of Italy’s technically gifted players and hasn’t given the Italy faithful much to complain about. Yes, players like Riccardo Saponara, Franco Vazquez and Alessio Romagnoli especially could all be there but, as a whole, the list of call-ups are quite good.
In addition to calling up his regulars in attack such as Graziano Pellè, Eder and Simone Zaza, Conte handed Fiorentina’s Federico Bernardeschi his first senior call-up. The winger has been in sensational form under Paulo Sousa this season and is arguably Italy’s best talent. Well, Buffon seems to think so. After his side’s 4-1 win over Torino in the Derby della Mole, the legendary shot-stopper claimed that Bernardeschi was the country’s biggest talent. Sorry, Domenico Berardi.
Along with Bernardeschi, the Azzurri tactician called up players like Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Insigne. While the former is currently in red-hot form for Roma, the latter was always a doubt to be called up as he and Conte don’t seem to get along despite the fact that Insigne is having the best season of his young career. In the end, Conte didn’t let his past feud with the diminutive forward get the better of him and handed Insigne a place on the roster.
Another call-up that proved to be an interesting one is that of Milan’s Giacomo Bonaventura. Like Insigne, the former Atalanta man is having the best season of his career and would normally be a lock for the national team. That said, Conte never previously gave the player much of a chance to display his good form on the international stage leaving one to wonder if he would eventually call him up. In any case, it now seems that Bonaventura will have a chance to prove himself under Conte.
Where Conte’s call-ups deserve more plaudits, in my opinion, is in the midfield. The inclusions of Riccardo Montolivo and Emmanuele Giaccherini leave much to be desired but shouldn’t overshadow the other positive choices of Conte. After an unexplainable spell outside of the national team, Thiago Motta has made a return to the fold. The Paris Saint-Germain man is arguably Italy’s best midfielder after Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti.
Another player that may be handed his international debut is Napoli’s Jorginho. The Italo-Brazilian has pulled all the right strings for Napoli this season and has finally gotten his reward. While his compatibility with Verratti remains to be seen, his inclusion is surely a positive one and has been coming for a long time.
Even if there are still a few questionable exclusions (see: Romagnoli) Conte’s most recent call-ups are highly encouraging. If the Leccese-born tactician is able to mould these quality players into his definition of a team, Italy’s hopes at the upcoming Euros just took a turn for the better. If I were a betting man and the current trend continued, I’d back Italy to go a long way. For more gambling and some of the best slots action, visit slotsexperts.com.
However, there are still some question marks in this regard. Can Conte get a majority of these players to buy into his vision? He’s done this brilliantly in the past wherever he’s been but the international stage is a different animal. Once the season comes to a close, he’ll only have a few weeks with his men to do so. The hot-seat at Chelsea awaits him but much still needs to be done with gli Azzurri before Conte can properly bid adieu. Can he do it?
The post Conte’s Call-ups Are A Step In the Right Direction appeared first on IFD.
from IFD http://ift.tt/1nZWGok
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
