Giampiero Ventura won't experiment very much at the beginning of his Italy tenure, relying on Antonio Conte's work.
The Azzurri need to be cautious about their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup, as they share their group with Spain, and a second place would force them to the play-offs.
Giampiero Ventura won't experiment very much at the beginning of his Italy tenure, relying on Antonio Conte's work.
The Azzurri need to be cautious about their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup, as they share their group with Spain, and a second place would force them to the play-offs.
Ventura is therefore looking to build on Conte's surprisingly effective work at Euro 2016. The Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the 3-5-2 formation will not be amended and that 21 out of Conte's 23 call-ups will be confirmed, with no more than Thiago Motta and Federico Marchetti being left out.
Daniele De Rossi and Andrea Barzagli will still be asked to play for Italy, with the latter in particular being pressed not to retire.
In the long run, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Domenico Berardi, Alessio Romagnoli and Daniele Rugani should all slowly be integrated into the first team. But the former two in particular will start off by contributing to the U21 side, as they are still considered a little too green.
Marco Verratti will return only if his condition of form has improved, while Claudio Marchisio is going to be out all the way until November.
The Rosea speculates that Italy's starting XI against Israel, the first qualifying game on September 5, may look like this: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Parolo, Verratti, Florenzi, De Sciglio; Eder, Gabbiadini.