Women’s football, Italy beats Switzerland and is close to the World Cup

This time, against Switzerland, we are smiling. With Thun scoring 1-0 from a Christiana Girelli free kick with 8 minutes to go, Italy set the arrow: they overdid it. Two days before the end of the qualifying round, the fate of the girls of Melina Bertolini is now in their hands: in Moldova and against Romania, on September 2 and 6, two wins will be enough to get a ticket to Australia and New Zealand (sites from the last round in 2023).

close to the world

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Switzerland, who won the first leg directly in Palermo last November (with Italy losing to Covid), last Friday’s draw for Romania came at a heavy cost. Italy has already beaten Moldova 3-0 and Romania 5-0: it will not be impossible to beat opponents, but will distract them. “We are very happy, the girls were good at staying in the match until the end, believing in the possibility of doing it – in the words of the coach -. The team sought and deserved the win. Now it all depends on us: we have two games, we will think about it in September, but we made a move A mission towards this World Cup, a mission for the girls and for the entire movement.”

first half

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Against Switzerland that would have sufficed for a draw, Bertolini confirmed the 4-3-3 he saw last Friday in Parma against Lithuania: Bartoli low on the right instead of Bergamci, Galli for Rosucci in the middle, Cernoia, Bonanci and Girelli in front. Italy’s first real attempt was from Cernoia: with a left foot from the short side of the area and a hand response from Thalmann, the goalkeeper who has played in our tournament for many years. After a poor header from Girelli, on the other hand Giuliani was very good at trying from the outside by Kronogorsevich, European champion with Barcelona. Italy played better, but Switzerland (who had been mainly thinking about defense for the entire 90 minutes) didn’t suffer much to go into the first half at 0-0.

shooting

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The Blues closed their opponents in half as well in the second half, but there weren’t many chances: a high pass from Galle and a header from Girelli just outside from a corner kick. Bertolini tried to introduce Bergamaschi first for Cernoia, then Rosucci and Sabatino for Giugliano and Caruso. And so an inactive ball was dispatched to open the match and unleash Italy’s glee: With Girelli’s free kick, Volmley’s curling of his hair sent the ball into goal without Tallmann being able to interfere. Italy was armed with Lenzini to pass Bonansea to 3-5-2: mission accomplished, for a priceless victory.

Under 19 years old

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In the afternoon came another joy against Switzerland: Enrico Spardella’s under-19 team qualified for the final stage of the European Championship. At Euganeo in Padua, the azzurrine won 3-1 thanks to three goals from Juventus players: a double by Elisa Pfattner and a Nicole Arcangeli goal. Italy took first place in the group completed by Bosnia-Hungary: from June 27 to July 9, the Czech Republic will play for the title.