Italy coach Roberto Mancini is looking forward to ‘an entertaining group’ in the Nations League against England, Germany and Hungary.
The Azzurri were top seeds for the 2022/23 edition of the tournament, having secured the bronze medal in the 2020/21 competition eventually won by France.
However, they were placed in the Group of Death with their UEFA EURO 2020 Finalist foes England, legends Germany and Marco Rossi’s Hungary.
“It’s a good group, and with England, Germany and Hungary, it’s certainly going to be an entertaining group,” smiled Mancini.
“It’s just football matches, facing strong opponents is part of the whole spectacle of football. We already played England in the Euros Final, so those will certainly be two intense games.
“As for Germany, them facing Italy is a classic of world football and it’ll be my first time as CT taking them on, so I am very happy about that.
“Finally, it’ll be a challenge between Italian coaches with Hungary, as they did very well at the Euros recently under Rossi.”
If Italy do qualify for the 2022 World Cup, then the Nations League games will take the place of friendlies in warming up to that competition in November and December.
“We’ll try to win the Nations League, of course, as we’d love to get back into the Final Four the way we did this year and go for the whole tournament again.”
The fixture list has not yet been drawn up, but the games will be played in June and September 2022.
The semi-finals for the group winners are then set for June 14 and 15, 2023, with the Final on June 18, 2023.
UEFA and FiFA consistently prove how these draws are stacked against Italy.
Time and time again.
this is not important was important is making the World Cup in March nothing else matters
He may not even be around for this if he doesn’t secure a spot for WC