Daniele Rugani is 'convinced' the new Azzurrini are 'a solid team', but warns of the 'aggressive' Slovenia.
The young central defender will play the U21 Euro 2016 qualifiers against Slovenia next Tuesday, and he's hoping for a better performance than at the last tournament, when they crashed out at the group stage.
“Against Sweden we were a bit foolish,” he said, looking back in an interview with Vivoazzurro.it.
Daniele Rugani is 'convinced' the new Azzurrini are 'a solid team', but warns of the 'aggressive' Slovenia.
The young central defender will play the U21 Euro 2016 qualifiers against Slovenia next Tuesday, and he's hoping for a better performance than at the last tournament, when they crashed out at the group stage.
“Against Sweden we were a bit foolish,” he said, looking back in an interview with Vivoazzurro.it.
“After the goal that put us on top and the sending off of one of their players, we came short in killer instinct and experience.
“We closed up, thinking we could defend the 1-0, when we should have looked for the finishing blow.”
Now Rugani is ready to face this challenge with a renewed and refreshed Italian Azzurrini team.
“The group is new, and we don't know each other very well yet. There's going to be some work to do, but I think this is a constant at the beginning of every two-year cycle.
“I'm convinced this is a solid team, starting from the behavioural values and the good manners.
“We have some different individuals from a technical point of view.
“We just have to be humble and show a desire to improve. Over two years you can make enormous progress, we proved it in the last two seasons.
“Slovenia are a very aggressive team, who will fight to give us trouble.
“It won't be easy, we'll have to give our all, endure and sacrifice ourselves, because games aren't won on paper. It's a match to be approached with caution.
“The support of the fans? It's certainly very important! There are teams that transform themselves when they're playing at home.
“Supporters give that extra push, which the players perceive. I hope the stadium can be full on Saturday.”