Roberto Mancini confirms more tactical experiments for Italy against Austria tomorrow and tips Argentina for World Cup glory in Qatar, even if the Azzurri and their fans will ‘have to keep suffering’ from afar until the tournament is over.
It kicks off at the Ersnt Happel Stadion in Vienna on Sunday at 19.45 GMT.
Due to a scheduling quirk, this friendly will be played just after the opening World Cup match between Qatar and Ecuador.
There is no warm-up for the tournament, as the Azzurri are playing their final game of 2022 before a long vacation.
“It’s a good test, especially for the younger players. We’ll see if we can improve what we did in Tirana, as this will be a tougher match than the win over Albania,” said Mancini in his press conference.
“After all, Austria were one of our most difficult games in the European Championship.”
That Round of 16 tie went to extra time on the way towards lifting the trophy at Wembley Stadium.
“It was the first knockout round we had faced, they had very good players who for the most part are in the German Bundesliga and are accustomed to a high tempo. Even if we suffered, we still fully deserved to win that day.
“Austria have some Serie A players too, most notably Marko Arnautovic, who was one of the best talents of the last 15 years. The team is aggressive, competitive and has really good players.”
Italy are inevitably still smarting after going from EURO 2020 victors to failing to even qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“We immediately showed a desire to fight back, winning a Nations League group that was by no means easy ahead of Germany, Hungary and England. Unfortunately, we’ll have to keep this suffering until mid-December when the tournament is over. Next time, we need to be more precise.”
Mancini was asked who he tips to win the World Cup in Qatar?
“There are many strong teams. If I had to choose one, I’d go for Argentina, they really impressed when we played each other.”
The 3-1 win away to Albania has been used as a test for the new 3-4-3 formation, which can also move to 3-5-2, and the coach confirms it is “probable” he will repeat that approach tomorrow in Austria.
“Giacomo Raspadori is a young player with a great deal of quality, able to cover any role in attack, including that of an atypical centre-forward.”
Very happy that everyone already see Messi and Argentina chqmpions, this means they have no chance at all 🙂 everyone knows that for messi its way to weak team to win something, only with all world dream team he can have a chance, but here is to tough for him
Argentina is a flawed side, but many of the usual suspects are coming in with flaws. So it really is anybody’s tourney.
Argentina has a solid chance here. I’d see Brazil as more likely and Portugal has a great side but a overly cautious coach.