Once the friendlies on American soil are over, Luciano Spalletti already partly knows what the Italian national team will be like when it leaves for Germany to defend the European title.
"Many of these players will be part of the squad for the European Championship in June", said the coach after the victorious match against Ecuador, effectively promoting the group seen at work in the tour to the States.
The challenges with Venezuela and Ecuador, in fact, served the Tuscan coach to experiment;
he will now have just under three months to decide who to bring to Germany where Italy is included in group B with Albania, Croatia and Spain.
The two American friendlies offered Luciano Spalletti various ideas to reflect on and various comforting news, from the feeling with Mateo Retegui's goal to Bellanova's sparkling debut, up to the good performances of those who, like Pellegrini and Zaniolo, had recently played in fits and starts in blue.
But for the coach, who won his fifth victory in eight games as coach of the national team with Ecuador, what matters most is having seen a group that has always been united even in difficulties.
Despite the rotations, the team seems to have already understood the concepts expressed by Spalletti well.
By changing the players, the result was to see a national team that knows what to do, even if it doesn't always succeed in the best way.
The US trip, which provided the coach with important answers, therefore ended with a "positive outcome".
Now the players called up for the two matches in the States, but also those left at home, will have two months to convince the coach to include them in the list of 23 who will fly to Germany to play the European Championship.
The next stop is on June 4th in Bologna for the friendly match against Turkey, on the 9th in Empoli there is the one against Bosnia.
In the friendlies against Venezuela and Ecuador, Spalletti's main experiment involved the three-man defence.
"The player who knows how to play multiple roles has an advantage in the call-up. The Inter team block is the one from which we take the most players, they play three in defense and we have to keep this in mind. We have to make the players feel comfortable based on how they play in their club", explained the coach yesterday in a press conference, underlining that "the factor of flexibility is fundamental in the summer competition that we will play".
Even though in his first six matches at the helm of the national team, Spalletti has always focused on a back four.
The lack of a top level striker remains the main problem to be solved.
Italy will have to deliver the list with the 23 participants in the European Championship by 7 June.
In addition to the 23 players called up, there will also be reserves who will remain on alert for any replacements on the list, permitted by regulation until the eve of their debut in the event of injury.
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