Italy won their European Under-21 Championship opener and Devis Mangia warns hosts Israel will be “tough” tomorrow.
The Azzurrini beat England 1-0 to lead Group A, while Israel drew 2-2 with 10-man Norway. These teams meet at 19.30 UK time (18.30 GMT) in Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium.
Italy won their European Under-21 Championship opener and Devis Mangia warns hosts Israel will be “tough” tomorrow.
The Azzurrini beat England 1-0 to lead Group A, while Israel drew 2-2 with 10-man Norway. These teams meet at 19.30 UK time (18.30 GMT) in Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium.
“Tomorrow is another day and we have to think about what we have to do against Israel, which will be a tough game,” said Coach Mangia in his Press conference.
“I’ve watched the DVD once and there are two or three things we’ve spoken about – we know they are organised, compact, don’t take risks, and are good on the counter-attack and we have to be attentive to this. Other aspects are even more important but I’ll keep that between me and my team.”
Luca Marrone is out of action and may well miss the rest of the tournament after straining a hamstring against England.
“Tomorrow our best team will go out to play. I don’t like talking about rotation – there are 23 players who’ve earned their places in this squad. I’m lucky enough to have 23 players who are intelligent and have great technical qualities.
“We have a lot of respect for our opponents but we have always had the strength of concentrating more on ourselves than on others.
“Fear and timidity are not words that belong to us – the strength of this team is we focus on our own strong points,” concluded Mangia.