JAKARTA - The Italian national team will start their campaign to defend the European Cup title, Friday, March 24. Gli Azzurri will face England at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in the inaugural Group C qualifying match.
This match is a final repeat of the 2020 European Cup. At that time Italy beat England on penalties after a 1-1 draw for 120 minutes.
Unfortunately, Italy's current situation is not like it used to be. Gli Azzurri even had a difficult situation because he did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Italy coach Roberto Mancini complained that at this time he had no squad depth as good as in previous years. He said La Nazionale had a player crisis, especially in the front lines.
Mancini said that the cause was due to the lack of opportunity to play at Serie A club and that coaching at grassroots was not good enough. Moreover, top Serie A clubs rely more on foreign attackers themselves.
"I don't know why so few strikers stand out. We are really very, very limited in attack lines," Mancini was quoted as saying by Football Italia on Tuesday, March 21.
"We have three teams in the Champions League quarter-finals, but of the three teams, there are at most seven or eight Italians. This is the reality," he explained.
At least the choice in the front lines made Mancini have to call the Argentine-born striker, Mateo Retegui. The 23-year-old player is now playing at the Tigre club on loan from Boca Juniors.
Retegui is a player who has Italian blood from his grandfather. Retegui played in the Argentine U-20 national team but had not received a call from the senior Argentine national team. Mancini used this to contact him.
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