Giampiero Ventura began preparations for Italy’s World Cup qualifier with Sweden and explained why he finally called Napoli midfielder Jorginho.
The first leg of the showdown is in Stockholm on Friday, with the decider at San Siro on Monday November 13.
“We are aware of the importance and difficulty of these two matches,” the Azzurri Coach told La Domenica Sportiva.
Giampiero Ventura began preparations for Italy’s World Cup qualifier with Sweden and explained why he finally called Napoli midfielder Jorginho.
The first leg of the showdown is in Stockholm on Friday, with the decider at San Siro on Monday November 13.
“We are aware of the importance and difficulty of these two matches,” the Azzurri Coach told La Domenica Sportiva.
“We are facing a side that beat France and knocked the Netherlands out of the tournament in the group phase, so we can’t help but respect them. At the same time, there is also great confidence.
“We all have to go to Russia together: the players and the whole country. We want to achieve something important.”
Ventura called up some new faces for the games, including Valencia striker Simone Zaza and Napoli midfielder Jorginho, despite saying that the Italo-Brazilian did not fit into his 4-2-4 system.
“There are two such complicated games that it’s good to open up to various different ways of playing. In order to go to the World Cup, we can’t just have one system.
“Once we overcome the play-off, we’ll have 20 days in the build-up to the tournament to train together and that will certainly help.”
It has been reported Ventura will switch to a 4-3-3 or even a 3-5-2 formation.