Italy coach Milena Bertolini was understandably frustrated following the Azzurre’s 1-0 loss to Belgium tonight, which knocked them out of Euro 2022.
Italy didn’t have a particularly positive run this summer in England. Their tournament kicked off against one of the favourites France and they suffered a painful 5-1 loss, seemingly playing a different game compared to Les Bleus. The second match was a 1-1 draw against Iceland, which put the pressure on for tonight’s game against Belgium.
Unfortunately for Bertolini and the Azzurre, they couldn’t rise to the occasion and suffered a frustrating defeat to Belgium, knocking them out of Euro 2022.
Speaking to Rai Sport after the game, Bertolini first reacted to the result and her team’s performance.
“We lost a match that we didn’t deserve to lose. Apart from the beginning when they were a bit shaky, the girls gave what they had and I think that in the end we could’ve picked up something more, but that’s football.”
She touched on what this Azzurre squad are lacking following their poor tournament.
“What was lacking, perhaps initially, was calmness, but I must say that tonight the girls played and did well. Clearly, if you arrive like this where you are forced to win, the emotional aspect took over at certain moments, but the girls did well today.”
Finally, Bertolini commented on how the team will deal with the pressure in the future. They can secure a spot in the upcoming 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with good results against Moldova and Romania in September.
“It’s an important experience for us, which we hadn’t experienced yet, it will definitely make us grow and make us stronger for the future.
“How do we turn the page? By taking the positive things, which exist, analysing the negative things and trying not to repeat mistakes.”
How about the Nazionale and Seria A managers focus on developing finishing technique, pace, and efficient touch on the ball.
How about Seria A club management provide more playing time for Italian talent!
How about more pressure toward developing new stadia and training infrastructure!
The women including “stars” like Girelli and Bonnasea were a disgrace like most of their teammates the entire tournament with no sense of camaraderie or team spirit, constantly complaining or going down like ragdolls, while the other teams out hustled them and obviously wanted to win more. Essentially, they were lazy and complacent with losing and their defending was absolutely atrocious. Compared to other nations they are not quick on the ball and play way too slow just like the men’s team which gets destroyed by much quicker teams. Italy used to be renowned for producing excellent defenders but now both the women’s and men’s national teams are porous like Swiss cheese and becoming an International joke.
Italian soccer is worse off than most want to acknowledge or admit but we must accept the reality of the situation and fire these coaches that continually make lame excuses and accept mediocrity.
I know what we learned Bertolini, that you are terrible as a coach commandeering 2 consecutive women’s national teams that were eliminated in the group stage, finished last in their group, losing 2 of 3 matches and only garnering 1 point tying the powerhouse Iceland who doesn’t even have a women’s professional league and has less than 400,000 people in the whole country ! You also lost to Belgium who is ranked lower, participating in only their 2nd Euros and now advances to the final 8 something you couldn’t accomplish with your supposed “stars” who were pathetic the entire tournament. Now like your counterpart Mancini just tell us the players have had a long season, are tired and stressed and deserve to go on vacation !
The Italian team is talented and has a lot of promise. It was too bad that they lost, as they are fun to watch. No one can say that Belgium played a great match – they were maybe 1% better than Italy. I don’t know what was missing this time, but they seemed often frustrated so maybe they need more mental work than physical work? But I admire how far Bertolini has taken the team.