Italy’s tournament opponents, Denmark, had to withdraw from the Algarve Cup due to four positive cases of COVID-19 in their squad.
As a result, the winners of Italy vs Norway and Portugal vs Sweden will play in the tournament’s final. Both matches will take place on Sunday while the final will take place next Wednesday.
Hi everyone. This is Stephanie checking in. I hope you’re doing well.
I also wanted to report that I received the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday.
The process was straightforward and fairly easy. And aside from some soreness in my left arm and shortness of breath for a few minutes, I suffered no major complications.
So, when the vaccine becomes widely available, I encourage you all to take it.
This aside, I appreciate your patience and continual support of me. The past few weeks have been very busy for me, but that period is about to wind down.
And I hope to be able to create more content soon.
Peace 🕶 🕊
Both Cecilia Salvai and Roberto Mancini have tested positive for the coronavirus.
We send our best wishes to the Azzurre stalwart and Italy’s CT as they recover from this virus! 💪🏽 💙
Two more players tested positive for COVID-19
After Alia Guagni’s case, who had to leave Coverciano as a result of her positivity, the results from the swabs taken yesterday evening show that two more National Team players tested positive, with a low viral load.
The whole delegation, both players and staff, underwent another round of molecular tests this morning.
One player of the national team tested positive after the molecular tests made last night in Coverciano.
The player in question, completely asymptomatic, tested negative when the first two tests were made on October 19th and 22nd and was integrated to the group, as per UEFA and FIGC protocols.
Every player and staff member will undergo testing later this evening.
Juventus midfilder, Weston McKennie, has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The news comes shortly after Cristiano Ronaldo tested positive for the virus.
The entire first team is now in fiduciary isolation for the time being.
Get well soon Weston and everyone else who has been infected by the virus.
Napoli has been barred by their local health authorities from traveling to Torino to take on Juventus.
The local authorities in Naples (ASL) have decided it is unsafe for Napoli squad to travel to Torino for their match against Juve tomorrow.
There are two positive cases within the squad, as Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas tested positive for the virus, along with a member of staff.
Napoli also played Genoa, who have 22 confirmed positive cases. They also played them six days ago.
Two staff members for Juventus also tested positive for the virus.
If Napoli’s game against Juventus isn’t postponed and rescheduled, then Juventus will be given three points as Napoli will have forefeited the match.
Zlatan Ibrahimović has tested positive for the coronavirus.
As a result, he’ll miss Milan’s match against Glimt in the Europa League.
Get well soon Ibra! 💪🏽
Some potentially bad news for the Azzurre ― the match against Israel might not be played due to the country being under lockdown after an uptick in cases of the coronavirus.
As a result, the Israeli team might not be able to travel to Empoli for the qualifier.
We’ll know the Israeli and UEFA’s decision on whether the match will be played in the next few hours.
Cagliari have confirmed players Filip Bradaric, Luca Ceppitelli and Alberto Cerri – after Kiril Despodov – have tested positive for COVID-19.
Get well soon! 💪🏼
Breaking:
They’ve changed one of the major health requirements. If an individual tests positive for the coronavirus, only that individual will go into quarantine.
The rest of the squad will not go into quarantine along with them. The change will give teams a better chance of completing the Serie A season, as a major hindrance to it has been removed.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has reportedly signed a new decree suspending all sporting events and competitions until June 14.
From the article itself:
The contact training has been postponed because of problems with the protocol and the date set for the resumption of the season from June 13 looks set to be postponed because of the new decree signed by the Prime Minister.
As a result, some of the teams are still doing individual training.
The main issue is the government’s requirement that teams must isolate themselves if one their player tests positive for the coronavirus. After today, if one of the players from one of the teams tests positive, the entire team will go into quarantine.
So, until this issue is resolved, then Serie A won’t be able to start again.
Conte could grant a special exemption to the league to let it start again. If he does, then we’ll know within the upcoming days.
It looks like that, starting next week, the Serie A teams will now resume training on an individual basis. They will do so after they get clearances from the proper, regional medical authorities.
AS Roma announced that they will be one of those teams, alongside Sassuolo, Bologna and Parma.
As per Calcio e Finanza (via ANSA), Italy’s sports minister (Vincenzo Spadafora) wrote a letter to the Scientific Technical Committee of Civil Defense asking them to reevaluate the moratorium on team training until May 18th.
If approved, then this would allow the teams to start the resumption of training by training players on an individual basis at their facilities.
The next meeting of the FIGC will be on May 8th, and this will be one of the issues that will be discussed then.
But for now, it looks like the teams will be resuming training on an individual basis, and they will do so after getting approval from regional authorities.
If you want a primer in regards to what’s going on in Italy, in terms of restarting the Serie A season, then here’s a good article to read.
Here’s an overview of everything that’s been going on from James Horncastle at The Athletic:
He even went as far as to say he expects a ‘surprise’ within the upcoming days, and that the owners of the Serie A teams would agree with m.
(Claudio Lotito, of course, disagrees with him.)
The government’s ban on group training until May 18th has been widely criticized. Damiano Tommasi, the president of the AIC, went as far as to say the decree ‘puts players at risk’, as less time between the resumption of training and the start of the season could lead to more injuries.
Gabriele Gravina says he won’t sign-off on suspending the season, no matter what the government says. In his eyes, doing so would be the ‘death of football’.
Currently, there is no set start date for the resumption of Serie A. This is due to a variety of factors, mainly in that teams like Brescia and Torino want the season cancelled, and the government wants the FIGC’s protocols for resuming play to be stricter.
And until those protocols are deemed ‘safe’ enough, then Serie A won’t resume and we won’t know when it will start again.
Francesca Vitale (AC Milan) has stated that she doesn’t want Spadafora and the government to ‘forget about us’, in terms of women’s football players who are currently left out of the discussion around whether or not to start the leagues in Italy.
She also said that the women’s footballers can make valuable contributions to society, and that she hopes that the women will eventually become professionals.
