Italy written-off at your peril
Italy heads to France this summer for Euro 2016 in pessimistic mood, despite going unbeaten in their ten qualification games. The Azzurri won seven of their qualification games, but their group was considered a weak one.
Antonio Conte’s team struggled to beat Malta, recording two 1-0 wins over the minnows and conceding goals against another minnow Azerbaijan. Their goal tally of 16 was considered underwhelming considering the strength of their opponents in qualification.
The Italians have encountered personnel problems ahead of their European Championships campaign. Central midfielders Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti will both miss the tournament through injury.
The pair are regarded as two of the most influential players for the Azzurri, but they will now look elsewhere for inspiration. Striker Mario Balotelli, veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo and attacking midfielder Sebastian Giovinco were also left out of the squad by Conte.
The soon-to-be Chelsea boss seems to be in charge of a squad of players that is not up to the Italians usual high standards of years gone by. The Italians made it to the final of Euro 2012, but were outclassed 4-0 by Spain.
The Azzurri are very much a tournament team and seem to thrive in adversity. Even when their squad does not look great on paper, they overachieve and make the latter stages of tournaments.
The quality of the Italy squad will be tested by their opening group game against Belgium, before games against Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.
They may not look in the best shape on paper, but football is played on grass and the Azzurri have a history of excelling when people have written them off, and that could very well happen once again at Euro 2016.
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