Campioni d'Europa! 🏆

Italy will begin qualification for the 2021 Women's Euros tomorrow. A few things worth noting before the qualification process begins: 

Both Lisa Boattin and Barbara Bonansea are out due to injury. They have now been replaced by Vanessa Panzeri and Gloria Marinelli respectively. 

Gloria earned a call up to the senior side after a stellar season in Serie B, where she became capocannoniere and scored 26 goals for Inter, as they secured promotion to Serie A. Gloria has also displayed stellar preseason form, most notably against ACF Trento (where she scored a goal in an 11-1 rout of the Trento side), and against Espanyol, where she both scored, and captained the side in the friendly. She also has previous international experience as well, as she was a part of the Italy squad that won third place in the U17 World Cup back in 2014 (which included scoring this absolute belter along the way).

Gloria and Vanessa are among a group of five, new debutantes who will be making their debuts at this ball. The other three are Francesca Durante, Agnese Bonfantini and Arianna Caruso. Francesca is a goalkeeper who, along with Rachele Baldi, have been summoned as potential replacements for both Rosalia Pipitone and Chiara Marchitelli, the both of whom have announced their retirements from the Italy squad.

Much has been written about Agnese already, so she really needs no introduction here. Still, it is worth mentioning that the fact that she narrowly missed the cut for senior squad in May, and the fact that she has now been summoned to the very same team, are a testament to her great ability and a sign that she’s ready to transition from being a ‘prospect’, to being a protagonist in Italy’s unfolding story.

Arianna Caruso has the distinction of having featured in a total of 55 games for Juventus, and has managed to feature in more games than the older, and more ‘established’ players on the squad. It’s safe to say that she’s also been instrumental for the Bianconere, as she played a pivotal part in them both winning and retaining their Serie A titles (and to think, she’s only 19 years old!) Arianna has more than merited a call up to the senior team. 

Other things worth noting: Italy, as one of the top seeded teams, were drawn into Group B, which consists of a total of six teams. Italy are one of two teams in European qualifying to have been drawn into a group of six (with the other team being the current holders, The Dutch).

What it means is that Italy will have to play an extra two games in order to qualify, including against the team that was perhaps the strongest opponents they could be drawn against: Denmark. Denmark, if you recall, are the giant slayers who knocked out the reigning eight time champions, Germany, during the last Euros. They also made it to the final, where they lost 4-2 to the hosts, The Netherlands.

The only consolation for this is the fact that Italy won’t have to play The Danes until June of 2020, which hopefully means they’ll have enough time to formulate a plan on how to stop De rød-hvide and their formidable striker, Pernille Harder (who was 2018′s UEFA Player of The Year). 

The Azzurre will also kick off the qualifiers by playing the first match in the qualifying competition. The match will be played at 17.30 CET (11:30 am EST, 8:30 am PST) on Thursday, at the Itztadion Ramat Gan in Tel Aviv. The game will be broadcast on Rai Due and streamed on Rai Play. Here’s to hoping the ladies can win their qualifying group and send a strong message to the rest of Europe that they’re here to stay. 

Starting XI vs The Netherlands: Attaccante: Bonansea, Giacinti, Bergamaschi Centrocampiste: Cernoia, Giugliano, Galli Difensore: Bartoli, Linari, Gama, Guagni Portiere: Giuliani Dai ragazze! Facciamo bene e vincere la partita!