It was a dream debut at the Maurice Revello Tournament for the Italy Under-21 side. The Azzurrini beat Japan 4-3 in Vitrolles in their first game in Group B with a brace from Antonio Raimondi, a penalty conversion from Fabbian and Seydou Fini - celebrating his recent 18th birthday in the best way possible. Many a good sign for Carmine Nunziata even if the side suffered slightly against the speed of the Japan team. Nunziata spoke: “We were faced with a great opponent, in top physical condition. It ended up a good game and I saw a lot of positive signs from players that have come with us for the first time. We have a lot of skill and we’re pushing despite it being the end of the season: we want to do our best in this tournament and go all the way”. 

THE GAME. Nunziata handed Fabbian the captain’s armband and started Tongya behind Raimondo and Fini. Turicchia was out on the right of the four-man backline with Pieragnolo on the left. It was the Standard Liège forward who made the most of a ball from Bianco to push forward and force Goto out of goal, Tongya and Hasa got a touch before Fini sealed the deal. The 2006-born player was at it again in the 22nd minute to win the penalty off Goto: Fabbian was icy from the spot to make it 2-0 past the Japanese keeper. Funakoshi’s side, however, did not lie down as Yukutomo hit the crossbar before forcing Rinaldi to save another shot. Italy almost bagged another through Fini, assisted by Tongya, but the attempt went just wide. With just moments until the break, Shiogai pulled one back after making a solo attempt against Rinaldi.

Ndour and Zanotti replaced Fabbian and Pieragnolo for the second half. After Bianco had a shot saved by Goto, Italy made it 3-1 through Raimondo with an assist from Fini: the forward on loan to Ternana this season was ruthless in slotting it past Goto on the left. However, 3 minutes later an Italy error saw Shiogai bag his brace. Raimondo then put home Italy’s fourth after a free kick from Sebastiano Esposito, sealing the brace before going close to a hat-trick, and Rinaldi did well on Yasunda at the other end of the pitch. However, Shiogai tapped in his third of the day on the rebound to make it 4-3. Italy held out and walked away with their first three points of the tournament. 

ITALY 4-3 JAPAN 
ITALY (4-3-1-2): Rinaldi; Turicchia, Bertola, Dalle Mura, Pieragnolo (46' Zanotti); Fabbian (46' Ndour), Bianco (60' Pisilli), Hasa; Tongya; Raimondo (82' Kouda), Fini (70' Esposito). Unused subs: Zacchi, Sassi, Ghilardi, Bonfanti, Fontanarosa, Veroli, Zuccon, Faticanti, Volpato, Cerri. Coach: Nunziata

JAPAN (4-2-3-1): Goto; Umeki, Shiokawa, Ozaki, Takahashi (63' Homma); Yasuda, Ogura; Sato (82' Michiwaki), Ishii (dal 28' st Nakajima), Yukutomo (63' Hiroi); Shiogai. Unused subs: Nakamura, Araki, Kofie, Hayashi, Kita, Kuwahara, Kosugi, Hiraga, Ozeki, Kanda. Coach: Funakoshi  

Goalscorers: 10' Fini (I), 22' pen. Fabbian (I), 45' Shiogai (J), 59' and 70' Raimondo (I), 17' and 40' Shiogai (J)

Referee: Coretta (Ecuador). Assistants: Amboya, Segura (Ecuador). Fourth official: Arruela (Peru)

Notes: booked Ogura (J), Bianco (I), Goto (J), Tongya (I)

MAURICE REVELLO TOURNAMENT - THE SCHEDULE
Group A: Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast, France, Mexico, South Korea
Group B: Ukraine, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Panama

GROUP B CALENDAR
Matchday 1 - Tuesday 4 June (Vitrolles)
ITALY 4-3 Japan (press conference to follow)
18:00 CEST Indonesia vs. Ukraine
No game for Panama

Matchday 2 - Thursday 6 June (Aubagne)
15:00 CEST - Ukraine vs. ITALY (press conference to follow)
18:00 CEST Indonesia vs. Panama
No game for Japan

Matchday 3 - Saturday 8 June (Fos)
14:00 CEST - Japan vs. Indonesia
17:30 CEST: Ukraine vs. Panama
No game for ITALY

Matchday 4 - Monday 10 June (Aubagne)
14:30 CEST - Ukraine vs. Japan
18:15 CEST - ITALY vs. Panama (press conference to follow)
No game for Indonesia

Matchday 5 - Wednesday 12 June (Salon)
14:30 CEST - Japan vs. Panama
18:15 CEST - ITALY vs. Indonesia (press conference to follow)

Finals

Friday 14 June
14:00 CEST - 9th-10th place (Arles)
18:00 CEST - 7th-8th place (Arles)
17:00 CEST - 5th-6th place (Mallemort)

Sunday 16 June
14:30 CEST - 3rd-4th place (Salon)
18:15 CEST - 1st-2nd place (Salon)