Following Friday's draw with the Republic of Ireland and the emotional send-off for Sara Gama's last match in an Italy shirt, the National Women's team are now back to work in preparation for the friendly against England, an encounter that will allow head coach Andrea Soncin to further evaluate his side's growth ahead of EURO 2025 qualifying, which starts in April. 

It couldn't be a better test after an enthusiastic Nations League campaign: facing them is the side with the most number of wins over the last two years, and who beat Germany to claim Euro 2022 at Wembley and the 2023 UEFA/Conmebol Finalissima, after beating Coppa America winners Brazil (4-2 on penalties, 1-1 after extra-time). They have also won the last two Arnold Clark Cups, the tournament where the strongest European and world teams meet (also Italy in 2023) and were runners-up in the 2023 World Cup, losing to Spain 1-0 in the final.

On the pitch, they have some of the best players in the world: in fact, seven were included in FIFA's Top 11 Best team of 2023, the team of the year voted by the players: goalkeeper Mary Earps (Manchester United), defenders Lucy Bronze (Barcelona ) and Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), midfielders Lauren James (Chelsea), Keira Walsh (Barcelona), Ella Toone (Manchester United) and striker Alessia Russo (Arsenal), stars of the FA Women's Super League clubs - where Italians Aurora Galli and Martina Piemonte, both at Everton, also play in - and Barcelona, who have won two Champions Leagues in three years. The Lionesses have been led since 2021 by another legend: Sarina Petronella Wiegman, the most successful coach of recent years, also awarded by FIFA as the best coach of 2023; to her name, she has two European Championships (in 2017 with the Netherlands and in 2022 with England) and has reached the World Cup final twice (2019 and 2023).

NATIONS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN – England had a somewhat disappointing Nations League campaign, finishing second behind the Netherlands in Group A of League A, with two defeats (both away) in six matches - in Utrecht against the league leaders and in Leuven against Belgium. In total, they got four wins and twelve points, but it wasn't enough to go through to the Finals: 15 goals scored (2.5 per game), eight conceded (1.34 on average), 84 shots (39 on target/45 off target), and 30 corners. Regarding individual players' stats, they highlight the usual big names: Bronze (six appearances and three goals), Greenwood (six/one) and Toone (six/one), and again the emerging Georgia Stanway (six/one), 23-year-old Lauren Hemp (six/three), Lauren James (four/two) and Fran Kirby (four/two).

PREVIOUS MEETINGS - Italy and England have faced each other 25 times since the summer of 1984 (the year the National Women's team joined the FIGC). The head-to-head record is eleven wins for Italy, with six draws and eight English victories (43/37 goals). The game's highest goalscorer is Carolina Morace with 13 goals, including an unforgettable four-goal haul scored at Wembley in August 1990, in the match played before the English Charity Shield between Liverpool and Manchester United. The last meeting dates back to February 2023, an Arnold Clark Cup match in Coventry. The English side ran out 2-1 winners, but Italy came out of the game with their heads held high after a promising performance against the newly-crowned European champions. The match was decided by Rachel Daly's brace, with Sofia Cantore finding the Italy equaliser, grabbing her one and only goal for the Azzurre so far. Italy have not beaten England since March 2012: 3-1 in the Cyprus Cup, in Paralimni, with goals from Pamela Conti, Melania Gabbiadini and Patrizia Panico. Since that game, there have been two defeats and one draw.

AN “ITALIAN” AMONG THE LIONESSES - There is also an "italian" in the English ranks: 25-year-old Arsenal striker Alessia Mia Teresa Russo, with evidence of her Italian origins in her name and surname. In fact, her father's father left Sicily at the end of the 1950s to move to England, where father Mario, an amateur footballer (goalscoring recordman with the Metropolitan Police), married her English mum, Carol.

She and her two brothers, Giorgio (amateur footballer) and Luca, grew up in Kent: at eight years old, Alessia started playing for Charlton Athletic Women, in south-east London; at 13, she received her first call-up to the Under 15 national team and from there progressed through all the youth teams, collecting two third-placed finishes at the 2016 Under-17 European Championship and the 2018 Under-20 World Cup. She made the first team at Chelsea before moving to Brighton, and in 2020 she fulfilled her dream of playing for Manchester United, the team of her heart and that of her grandfather. In the same year, she made her debut for the senior national team (to date 30 appearances and 15 goals) and in the 2022 European Championship scored the best goal of the tournament, in a 4-0 win over Sweden in the semi-final. She is now plying her trade at Arsenal, having made 63 appearances and scoring 29 goals in the English top flight.

AZZURRE AT WORK AT COVERCIANO - After yesterday's recovery session, today the team were back out on the training pitch to prepare for the second challenging friendly in the space of a few days. Tomorrow morning - again in Coverciano - one last session is scheduled before flying to Malaga and then to Algeciras, a Spanish city overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. In the evening,  a visit to the Estadio Nuevo Mirador is planned (opened in 1999, capacity 7,200 seats), where the English team thrashed Austria 7-2 on Friday thanks to braces from Russo and Mead, and goals from Carter, Daly and debutant Grace Clinton, Manchester United's twenty-year-old midfielder who is on loan at Tottenham this season.

LAST MEETING - 19/02/2023, Coventry (England)

ENGLAND 2-1 ITALY (1-0 h.t.)

Goals: 31’ and 71’ Daly, 62’ Cantore

ENGLAND (4-3-3): Roebuck; Greenwood (63’ Wubben-Moy), Charles, Le Tissier, Walsh (46’ Zelem); Coombs, Park, Carter, Charles; Daly (81’ Salmon), Robinson (63’ James), Hemp (63’ Kelly). Unused subs: Earps, Maciver, Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Stanway, Russo, Toone, Nobbs. Coach: Wiegman

ITALY (4-3-3): Giuliani; Bergamaschi (70’ Orsi), Lenzini, Salvai, Boattin (46’ Linari); Galli (55’ Caruso), Rosucci (79’ Greggi), Giugliano; Giacinti, Girelli (55’ Cantore), Bonansea (79’ Serturini). Unused subs: Schroffenegger, Baldi, Cafferata, Filangeri, Severini, Bonfantini, Catena, Piemonte, Polli. Coach: Bertolini.

Referee: Ivana Projkovska (MKD).
Assistants: Vjolca Izeiri (MKD), Elena Sokleska Ilieska (MKD). Fourth official: Ainara Acevedo Dudley (MKD).