Today at 20:00 CEST, at the Dac Arena in Dunajskà Streda, the Azzurrini will take on Romania at the European Under-19 Championship. Carmine Nunziata will have an entire squad to choose from for the match, except for Fabio Miretti, who will be out through suspension: “The first match is pivotal, not only in terms of the result but also psychologically,” said the Head Coach.

Atalanta youth-team player Samuel Giovane echoed this sentiment: “Having reached this point, no team can be taken lightly. On paper, we are favourites, but Romania are a tough side, both from a physical and technical perspective. They have a good attack, so we will have to be careful.” The Romanians are also without one of their star players: Rares Ilie is suspended and won’t feature.

Riccardo Stivanello (Bologna) and Duccio Degli Innocenti (Empoli) have now joined up with the squad.

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (AC Milan), Gioele Zacchi (Sassuolo);

Defenders: Diego Coppola (Hellas Verona), Alessandro Fontanarosa (Inter), Daniele Ghilardi (Hellas Verona, Gabriele Mulazzi (Juventus), Riccardo Stivanello (Bologna), Filippo Terracciano (Hellas Verona), Riccardo Turicchia (Juventus);

Midfielders: Cesare Casadei (Inter), Duccio Degli Innocenti (Empoli), Giovanni Fabbian (Inter), Giacomo Faticanti (Roma), Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), Samuel Giovane (Atalanta), Fabio Miretti (Juventus);

Forwards: Giuseppe Ambrosino Di Bruttopilo (Napoli), Tommaso Baldanzi (Empoli), Marco Nasti (AC Milan), Cristian Volpato (Roma). 

Groups

Group A.  Slovakia, Romania, Italy, France

Group B. England, Israel, Serbia, Austria

Saturday 18 June

Slovakia vs. France (17:30, Trnava)

Italy vs. Romania (20:00, Dunajská Streda)

Tuesday 21 June

Slovakia vs. Italy (17:30, Trnava)

Romania vs. France (20:00, Dunajská Streda)

Friday 24 June

Group A: Romania vs. Slovakia (17:30, Trnava)

Group A: France vs. Italy (17:30, Dunajská Streda)

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off:

Tuesday 28 June
Third place Group A vs. Third place Group B (17:00, Senec)

Semi-finals:

Tuesday 28 June
SF1: Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group B (17:00 or 20:00, Trnava or Dunajská Streda)
SF2: Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A (17:00 or 20:00, Trnava or Dunajská Streda)

Final:

Friday 1 July
Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2 (20:00, Trnava)