After the success of the U19 and U18 National Teams against their Albanian counterparts in the friendlies two weeks ago at Coverciano, the U17s started the new season in the best way with a 4-0 drubbing of Switzerland at the Stadio Silvio Piola in Vercelli. Tommaso Ravaglioli’s double and goals from Gabriel Ramaj and Filippo Scotti decided the first of the two scheduled fixtures with the Swiss national team. 

Italy, who in a month and a half will be busy in Kosovo with the first stage of qualification for the European Championship, showed themselves to be in excellent physical condition, as shown by the high press from the first minute until the last. The Azzurrini made the breakthrough in the 13th minute thanks to a penalty won and converted by Raglioli. The Bologna forward and Riccardo Braschi complemented each other well, creating at least four clear-cut opportunities in a first half dominated by Italy. The only negative was the injury to Luca Barani; he was replaced by Filippo Pagnucco, who was also forced off towards the end of the match with a muscle problem. 

Corradi’s side killed off the match in the first ten minutes of the second half. In the 52nd minute, Ravaglioli scored his second with an elegant outside-the-boot touch past Lapierre after a nice run by Della Mora; then, Atalanta defender Gabriel Ramaj made it 3-0 with a volley from a corner. Switzerland was on ropes and, not happy with the result, Italy came close to scoring several times before Filippo Scotti made it four after a brilliant solo run.

“We won’t have much time to prepare for the first stage of European qualification,” said Head Coach Bernardo Corradi. “I am happy because the boys have given everything they have, looking to put into practice what little I managed to convey in these two days of work. The fact we won will certainly encourage them; picking up results helps.” The first outing of the season immediately showed an Italy willing to dictate the pace of the game: “I tried to make the boys understand that if we apply good pressure up top, we run better and less.” The Azzurrini could do better with their finishing, but, right now, that is of little importance: “It means that we will be more ruthless when the three points are at stake.”