After three wins and a defeat, the Under-20 side got their first draw in the 8 Nations tournament. In Stavanger, the Azzurrini played out a 2-2 draw - playing 50 minutes with 10 men – that takes their positive run of results to four games, and provides positive signs ahead of the World Cup Finals in Indonesia in two months’ time. "With the sending off of Nasti, the game became more difficult for us, but I thought the lads were excellent,” commented Head Coach Carmine Nunziata. “Norway are a good side, made up of players born in 2002, while we are mainly a squad full of 2003/2004-born players, but that one-year age difference wasn’t evident at all. Even a man down, we were hardly under any pressure; it was a shame we conceded the equalising goal, but we go back to Italy with lots of good impressions.” There was also a debut for SPAL midfielder, Matteo Prati: "He gave a good account of himself, and looked as if he’d been playing with us for a long time.”

Norway took the lead after 13 minutes from the penalty-spot, won and finished off by Lasse Nordås. The Azzurrini equalised came five minutes later, courtesy of Cosena striker, Marco Nasti, who was then later red-carded for a second bookable offence just before half-time. Down to ten men for nearly 50 minutes, Italy battled hard and were able to turn the game around, going ahead after 55 minutes through Benfica midfielder, Cher Ndour. The home side found parity, though, on the 68th-minute mark, thanks to Joel Mvuka’s goal. Italy close out their 8 Nations tournament with a home fixture against Germany on Monday at 15 CEST at the stadio Lungobisenzio in Prato. The game can be seen live on www.figc.it.

Italy’s fixtures and results  in the 8 Nations tournament

7 June 2022: ITALY 0-1 Poland

23 September 2022: Portugal 1-2 ITALY
17 November 2022: Romania 1-2 ITALY
21 November 2022: ITALY 2-1 Czech Republic

23 March 2023: Norway 2-2 ITALY
27 March 2023: ITALY vs. Germany, 15:00 CEST, Stadio Lungobisenzio (Prato)