It is the first day for the squad at Coverciano, the first gathering after the untimely death of Gianluca Vialli. That of the former Azzurri team leader is a very heavy absence, for the players but above all for Roberto Mancini, his lifelong friend who, in a press conference, confirms how much the entire group misses Gianluca: "It is not easy for us, we must try to do well for him." And maybe win another European Championship: "But first we have to qualify."

After the disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup, the time has come to start again. And the first obstacle on the road to EURO 2024 is the most challenging. On Thursday in Naples, where the national team return after ten years, Italy face England, which recalls the sweet memory of the Wembley triumph and who are also the last team Italy defeated at home last September, when Giacomo Raspadori won the Nations League match played at San Siro with a great goal: "By now Italy vs. England has become a classic," confirms Mancini "a bit like Italy vs. Germany. They have been a great national team for some time, full of talented, strong and technical players. They have more options than us for many reasons, but in Naples we want to put in a good performance, play well and start these qualifiers well. It will be a tough match as all the others have been, I expect as always good support from the Neapolitan fans."

Southgate is spoilt for choice in attack, being able to count on the likes of Kane, Rashford, Foden and Saka, while the same cannot be said for Mancini who, given the injuries of Immobile and Raspadori, has decided to call up Mateo Retegui. "We had been following him for some time," admitted the coach, "he has quality and is a young, bright boy. We didn't think he would say yes, we hope that he can be important. I don't know why there are so few strikers, we are very limited going forwards. There are competitions at Primavera level that have no Italians. We have three teams in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but out of the three teams there are 7/8 Italians at most. This is the reality."

Argentinean by birth, but with an Italian passport, Retegui reignites the discussion on whether multi-national players should be called to the national team: "We are worse off than Southgate, if there is a chance to get new players we will take them. Years ago I said that players born in Italy should play in the national team, but there was not that problem here yet and the world has changed. All the European national teams have players with multiple nationalities, we have boys who have gone through the whole of the youth system with us and then been taken by the senior national team of other nations." The scouting work is fundamental and for some time now Serie A has no longer been the only league to pick players from: "Gnonto here has not been picked up by anyone, but he plays in the Premier League. There is Oristanio, who plays in the Netherlands. Zaniolo is a bit of an symbol, he didn't play and then found himself starting in the Champions League. We have to try to find them somewhere, in every way." If the players who can be called up are few, the reason is also that in Italy no one plays on the street anymore: Mancini recalls "We used to play for 3-4 hours on the street and then go to train, today this no longer happens. It is no coincidence that players are still discovered in those countries, such as Uruguay, Argentina or Brazil, where people still play a lot in the streets."

Having said that, due to the absentees, from Zaniolo to Kean, from Zaccagni to Locatelli, the doors of the national team are always open, the call up of the 2006-born Pafundi, the second after his debut in November, confirms Mancini's focus on young players. For the coach, talent has no age: "He has incredible qualities, he is a boy who is now 17 years old and the hope is that he can play in Serie A and then be a national team player for the next twenty years. We believe in him a lot."

CARNESECCHI ARRIVES. While waiting to know if Chiesa and Dimarco will be able to fight off injuries, the coach has decided to call up Marco Carnesecchi in place of the injured Ivan Provedel : the Cremonese goalkeeper, this his first call-up to the national team, will leave the Under-21 camp to join the group in the afternoon and take part in the first training session.

The squad

Goalkeepers: Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Wladimiro Falcone (Lecce), Alex Meret (Napoli);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Alessio Romagnoli (Lazio), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);
Attackers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United), Vincenzo Grifo (Friburgo), Simone Pafundi (Udinese), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Club Atletico Tigre), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham United).