The First Team had their first training session this afternoon at Coverciano as the squad met up in preparation for their final two fixtures in the Nations League against England Hungary; 180 minutes that will decide the final group standings. The Azzurri find themselves third with five points, behind Germany (six) and Hungary (seven) but ahead of England (two), who they will face on Friday at San Siro. Italy are still in the running to finish top of the group, which would result in them reaching the Final Four stage for the second successive year running. But they also need points to avoid finishing bottom and ultimately relegation to League B.

In the press conference to kick off the training camp - where Roberto Renga, Italy football correspondent for the newspaper ‘Il Messaggero’ was remembered - Roberto Mancini spoke about the two upcoming games: "The results will be important, anything is still possible in the group. We must try and win both games to try and finish top. The months ahead will be difficult until the World Cup finishes, we need to try and get some enthusiasm back. I believe the win at the Euros should give us that drive. We need to restart from there, get back to building a squad to take us forward to have another four extraordinary years, just like the previous ones".

The Head Coach also discussed his selections, that were announced on Friday evening, talking about the new faces in the group, Provedel, Vicario and Mazzocchi, as well as some players not on the list: "I wanted to see and analyse the two goalkeepers up close. Mazzocchi isn't a young boy but he is performing very well. Spinazzola told me he isn't feeling very well, and needs a couple of weeks of work, so I decided to leave him out. There are many good players who have been left out but I thought it was right, seeing the amount of games they are playing". Italy will need to do without Verratti, as predicted, after Paris Saint Germain Head Coach Christophe Galtier spoke of the midfielder's calf injury picked up during the Ligue 1 game with Lyon last night: "Verratti won't make it", confirmed Mancini, "he took a bang on his calf and can't even walk at the moment. We're probably going to call up Frattesi. I don't think Tonali's problem is too worrying, we need to evaluate Pellegrini today and tomorrow, while Politano is quite good".

After dedicating some words to the victims of the recent flooding that hit the Marches region ("I found myself there, I have never seen such an amount of rain in all my life. I'm truly saddened at what happened, not only because it happened ten kilometres away from home"), and confirming that players will be able to exercise their right to vote in the election on Sunday, the Head Coach reflected on the shortage of striking options, that is critically emerging, clearly seen from Serie A's top scorers with only one Italian striker in the first 13 position, Ciro Immobile: "It is something of an anomaly because Italy has always had great strikers. Unfortunately, for some time now, the big teams have had foreign strikers, the only who has been present for a while now is Immobile. I hope it's a situation that is reversed and that soon there'll be two or three young forwards coming to the fore and having a big future in the First Team. It's quite a big issue for us".

As Scamacca and Casadei have shown, there are now several young players going abroad to further their careers. For Mancini, it isn't a bad thing: "Scamacca has gone to a tough league and he'll need a bit of time to get to understand the English game, but time is on his side. Playing abroad can help you". Also, Insigne, Bernardeschi and Criscito have started a new adventure in the Major League Soccer and whose door isn't yet closed for the Azzurri: "Nobody is left out of my thoughts. Insigne would probably have come but he's recently had a very serious family matter to deal with". Mancini, who will reach the same number of games as Head Coach as Valcareggi and Vicini with the England game (54, with Lippi and Prandelli in his sights on 56), responded to a question about moving to a 3-5-2 formation: "I don't discount this possibility, but there needs to be a reason to change system. My fear is that the team might get stretched a bit more changing the system; we aren't the strongest team physically, we need to keep hold of the ball and play possession-based football".  

A the end of the press conference, there were two presentations made. The first was given to the First Team's Head of Delegation Gianluca Vialli, who received the International award ‘Un Cuore da Leone’ (a Lion's Heart) - set up by Stelle nello Sport in collaboration with Unione Stampa Sportiva Italiana, Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive, Coni and Cip, to remember Gian Luigi Corti, a famous sports journalist and manager of Federvolley. To mark the occasion, also the President of Stelle nello Sport, director of Annuario Ussi, and son of Gian Luigi, Michele Corti was present, as well as the President of Ussi, Gianfranco Coppola. The second award ‘Costruiamo gentilezza’ (Developing Kindness) - born out of a collaboration between Ussi Toscana and the Associazione ‘Cor et Amor’ led by Luca Nardi - was presented to Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario on his first call-up to the squad. The Tuscan Club's main man between the sticks was recognised for his great gesture of welcoming and hosting a family who had escaped from war and other atrocities.

Squad List

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Empoli);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Emerson Palmieri (West Ham), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Luiz Felipe (Real Betis), Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Centrocampisti: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Tommaso Pobega (Milan), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Attaccanti: Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham), Alessio Zerbin (Napoli).