Reigning European champions, Italy, got off to an inauspicious start in the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 defeat to England in Naples.
Now, Roberto Mancini needs a response from the Azzurri to get their Europ 2024 qualifying campaign up and running.
Italy will travel to Malta for their second match of Euro 2024 qualifying on Sunday. Malta also lost their opening match of the Euro 2024 tournament. The Falcons fell 2-1 to North Macedonia, although they trailed 2-0 until the 86th minute.
🗣️ @robymancio: "We expected a tough game and it was. We dominated that second half and deserved to draw. We need to roll up sleeves now."#ITAENG #EURO2024 #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/zsFaMn9uka— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) March 23, 2023
🗣️ @robymancio: "We expected a tough game and it was. We dominated that second half and deserved to draw. We need to roll up sleeves now."#ITAENG #EURO2024 #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/zsFaMn9uka
The Azzurri had also trailed 2-0 before making a late comeback against England. England went into halftime leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Harry Kane.
Mateo Retegui pulled a goal back with just over 30 minutes left on the clock, but Italy couldn’t get an equaliser.
Mancini’s player pool is getting shallower. He is struggling to find players to replace the old squad members that helped Italy win the Euro 2020 tournament.
Malta and Italy met for the first time in 1986, with the Azzurri winning 2-0. The teams have played seven additional times since their first-ever meeting. Italy won all seven of those matches. Six of the eight all-time meetings between the teams saw Italy win to nil.
Group C is a competitive group. England and Italy would be seen as the strongest sides. However, North Macedonia and Ukraine will certainly battle for second place in the group. Poor Malta should come last based on the other teams in the group.
Italy must do better in the attack against Malta. They tallied 10 shots versus England but just one landed on target. Wilfried Gnoto came off the bench as a substitute against England but could get a start versus Malta.
Retegui could keep his place after scoring on Thursday night. Every other position except for Gianluigi Donnarumma could be changed.
Malta, on the other hand, managed two shots on target from seven total shots versus North Macedonia. The Falcons conceded 60% of the game’s possession and are likely to give Italy the ball for most of the match.
Nearly the entire Malta squad plays its club football domestically in Malta. There are a few players such as Teddy Teuma and Jodi Felice Jones that play in other countries in Europe.
The low number of players playing for teams outside of Malta isn’t enough to improve the side.
Italy won all eight of their matches against Malta. The Azzurri should post another victory over Malta, making it nine wins from nine matches.