Thirty years after the World Cup which saw them lose in the final on penalties to Brazil and almost 19 years after the match against Ecuador in June 2005, Italy will return to the United States in March to play friendly matches with Venezuela and Ecuador.
Two convincing tests, in view of Euro 2024, with two national teams in full swing for the next World Cup.
On Thursday 21 March (at 5pm Florida time) at the Drv Pnk Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, home of Inter Miami, the Azzurri will face Venezuela, while on Sunday 24 March (at 4pm local time) they will face Ecuador at the Red Bull Harrison Arena, New Jersey.
For the Azzurri, the match in Ft. Lauderdale will be the first match in history against Venezuela.
'Vinotinto' has never taken part in the final phase of a World Cup, but this long fast could be broken as the Venezuelans currently occupy fourth place (with 9 points in 6 games) in the South American qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup , where by virtue of the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams the top 6 from the group itself will qualify.
There are 2 precedents with Ecuador: success for the Azzurri (2-0, brace by Vieri) in the final phase of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea and draw (1-1, goal by Toni) in the 2005 friendly match in New York.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA