Italy’s Euro 2022 campaign kicks off this evening with a tough test against one of the pre-tournament favourites France.
The Azzurre will take on the star-studded French side at 20:00 UK time at the New York Stadium in Rochdale and both teams will be looking to kickstart their tournament with a decisive showing.
France are one of the strongest national teams in the world, sitting 3rd in FIFA’s rankings, and they’re coming into this tournament in fine form, having recently secured strong wins over Vietnam (7-0), Cameroon (4-0), Slovenia (1-0), Wales (2-1) and the Netherlands (3-1). They’re unbeaten in their last 14 outings and will be expecting to top Group D.
Les Bleues have never progressed past the quarter-finals of a European Championships before, so they’ll be looking to finally show their might at this summer’s tournament.
Italy, on the other hand, are still a team on the rise under coach Milena Bertolini, who has overseen the Azzurre’s recent return to the forefront of European football; a few years ago, she oversaw the team’s return to the World Cup for the first time in 20 years and guided them to the quarter-finals, an incredible result that helped push forward women’s football in the Italian peninsula.
Bertolini will be hoping to build off that World Cup success in 2019 now at Euro 2022, their next major tournament. It’ll be tough, however, as both Iceland and Belgium are fairly evenly matched with Italy – the former sit 17th in the world and the latter 19th, so it’s incredibly likely that all three teams will be jostling to finish second in Group D.
A win against France tonight would give the Azzurre a huge advantage in the fight to progress to the knock-out stages, so Bertolini and her squad will look to pull off the impossible at the New York Stadium this evening.
Probable line-ups for France vs Italy:
France (4-3-3): Peyraud-Magnin; Torrent, Nka, Karchaoui, Perisset; Toletti, Bilbault, Mateo; Cascarino, Katoto, Diani.
Italy (4-3-3): Giuliani; Bartoli, Gama, Linari, Boattin; Caruso, Giugliano, Cernoia; Bergamaschi, Girelli, Bonansea.