Italy’s roster is anything but impressive in comparison to recent years, so how can Antonio Conte avoid a humiliating show in France in a few weeks time?
The very fact that I had to write ‘in comparison to recent years’ in the opener, goes to show how much of a crisis the Italian national team is in. Several of the players on the roster do not have extensive European or international experience, and a handful of them will have less than 5 caps to their name come tournament time. It’s 2010 all over again, the Azzurri aren’t exactly a young team, and they are inexperienced.
The exclusion of Andrea Pirlo and Sebastian Giovinco really hurt the Azzurri in a two edged blow in terms of experience and current form. Other hand handed options such as Andrea Belotti and Leonardo Pavoletti were overlooked, but again that duo falls into the category of shear inexperience. So what do we have on the table, then?
Goalkeepers:
• 1 – Gianluigi Buffon
• 14 – Federico Marchetti
• 12 – Salvatore Sirigu
Defenders:
• 5 – Davide Astori
• 15 – Andrea Barzagli
• 19 – Leonardo Bonucci
• 3 – Giorgio Chiellini
• 4 – Matteo Darmian
• 2 – Mattia De Sciglio
• 21 – Angelo Ogbonna
• 25 – Daniele Rugani*
• 26 – Davide Zappacosta*
Midfielders:
• 13 – Marco Benassi*
• 29 – Federico Bernardeschi*
• 28 – Giacomo Bonaventura*
• 6 – Antonio Candreva
• 16 – Daniele De Rossi
• 24 – Alessandro Florenzi
• 23 – Emanuele Giaccherini
• 8 – Jorginho*
• 30 – Riccardo Montolivo
• 32 – Thiago Motta
• 18 – Marco Parolo
• 27 – Stefano Sturaro*
Attackers:
• 17 – Eder
• 22 – Stephan El Shaarawy
• 11 – Ciro Immobile
• 20 – Lorenzo Insigne
• 9 – Graziano Pelle
• 7 – Simone Zaza
* Indicates players with less than 5 international caps.
Antonio Conte had the luxury of coming into Juventus in 2011 at rock bottom with a few great additions. The second awakening of Andrea Pirlo and new boys Arturo Vidal, Stephan Lichtsteiner really boosted the Old Lady back up to the top where they have remained for the last 5 years. But what cannot be taken away from Conte is how he managed to mould a unit together. He got all the pieces put together and created a very cohesive and effective team. His selections were/are anything but devoid of controversy, but he’s stuck with guys who got him through qualification and he hasn’t wanted to make many changes to that core.
If Italy cannot beat you with skill, they are going to have to try to beat you with a never give up mentality, a strong team attitude and top physical condition. Whether those three keys can be achieved is anyone’s guess, but it’s all the Azzurri have got heading into a tough group against Belgium, Sweden and Ireland.
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