Less than a month and a half after the elimination at the group stage of the European Championships in England, another Azzurre adventure recommences. Forty-two days ago in Manchester, we saw the defeat against Belgium that ousted Sara Gama and her teammates from the continental event; and if on the one hand the sad memory of that knockout is still alive, on the other hand the positive aspect may be the almost immediate possibility of 'revenge' that Milena Bertolini's girls will have, using the same word said by the coach in the press conference at the start of the meeting.

"In this period" - underlined Bertolini speaking at the Federal Technical Centre - "I have tried to get rid of that personal disappointment, of the staff, of the girls and of the whole movement, because we did not play the way we expected in the European Championships. But now we immediately have a new challenge to face, a fundamental one'. Yes, because the next two games in Moldova and against Romania will solidify the ranking of the Azzurre in their qualifying round for the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and with two victories in these two matches, Italy's participation in the 2023 Women's World Cup will be guaranteed.

"We start again with confidence," continued the coach, "to show that we are not the team from the European Championship, but from the path that led us to England. I told the girls that we have to be hungry, to show our value. But we are not starting from scratch, because there is a whole journey that we have been on, all the experience that we have inside and that we must use. Even the pressure on us at the last European Championship was a new experience: a situation that we had never experienced before, but because women's football is growing in terms of attention, we have to learn how to manage it".

Against Moldova (Friday, 2 September, kick-off at 17:30 CEST), the Azzurre will return to the pitch, before closing out their Group G qualifying match on Tuesday 6 September in Ferrara against Romania: a decisive match to find out whether the summer of 2023 will be a 'World Cup' one for Italy (click here for ticket details).

"I remember after the last World Cup in France," Bertolini said, "the fact that we had to start again so soon after that experience was a negative aspect, but that was because the mood was totally different to today. Now we have to win both games to fly to Oceania, without ifs or buts. We will give everything we have on the pitch: quality, desire, determination and enthusiasm.

The risk in these challenges is finding very closed-off teams, so we will have to be good at being lucid, patient and not getting nervous. On top of this, Romania are a team of absolute quality: let's not forget that Switzerland drew against them".

Valentina Bergamaschi will not take part in the two games: the medical exams carried out today on the AC Milan player have highlighted a muscular lesion. The situation of Valentina Cernoia, who also underwent tests after the last league match, remains to be seen.

Media accreditations: editors are informed that accreditation operations for the Ferrara match against Romania are open exclusively on the electronic online system www.accreditations.figc.it until Friday, September 2nd. The accreditation request can be made after the necessary registration on the Accreditations FIGC portal.

Squad List

Goalkeepers: Francesca Durante (Inter), Laura Giuliani (Milan), Katja Schroffenegger (Fiorentina);
Defenders: Elisa Bartoli (Roma), Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Lucia Di Guglielmo (Roma), Maria Luisa Filangeri (Sassuolo), Martina Lenzini (Juventus), Elena Linari (Roma), Angelica Soffia (Milan), Alice Tortelli (Fiorentina);
Midfielders: Arianna Caruso (Juventus), Michela Catena (Fiorentina), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus), Aurora Galli (Everton), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Giada Greggi (Roma), Martina Rosucci (Juventus), Flaminia Simonetti (Inter);
Forwards: Agnese Bonfantini (Juventus), Sofia Cantore (Juventus), Valentina Giacinti (Roma), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Benedetta Glionna (Roma), Martina Piemonte (Milan).