Not sure, but the stats about that match talk about 10 attempts on target by Germany (the ones that were blocked by some defenders are not included), so she definitely had to have made some saves, at some moments?
An update about Youth NTs: after Italy U-17, Italy U-19 also qualified for the WWC. There's still a match to play at group stage, tomorrow, and Italy will meet the leaders of the group of France, but even should they lose, they had the luck of being drawn in the same group as Poland, who are already in as the WWC organizers, so, even should Poland catch up with Italy, Italy will be qualified for the WWC anyway. This result was made possible by two goals by Giada Pellegrino Cimò (who this year played with Sampdoria, on loan from Roma): the first allowed Italy to draw the opening match vs Poland at 90'+2' (phew! -_-"), the second gave Italy the win vs Sweden. So, however the rest of this U-19 EURO tournament will go, Italy are guaranteed the access to the WWC. Highlights of the two matches:
I had also promised an update about the market season, but, apart from Sofia Cantore's transfer to Washington Spirit in NWSL being confirmed, there haven't been many movements so far: more rumours than actual facts. One of the few actual transfers from abroad is Lina Hurtig, who had already been in Italy in the past (to Juventus) and now signed with Fiorentina. Frankly, it looks like she didn't really find space in the continental champions of Arsenal and that having to come back to Italy is a downgrade for her.. Genoa's general manager (and former player) Marta Carissimi, said that the newly promoted team will mostly rely on the veterans (that sounds like a way to say that they won't spend much on the market! In Italy, people from Genoa are traditionally known for being very tight with money ). Some players left Italy: Roma's Moeka Minami was signed by Brighton & Hove Albion in FA-WSL, Sassuolo's Gina Chmielinski was back in Germany, at Leipzig, Inter's Ghoutia Karchouni will go to Switzerland, with Servette. Fiorentina's Stine Ballisager will play for Bayern München. In Inter, Sofie Junge Pedersen also left for un undisclosed destination (probably back to Denmark?), while Lisa Alborghetti, long-time captain, retired from football. Then there are some Italian internationals who are sure to leave their current clubs to still undisclosed destinations: Michela Cambiaghi, for instance, already said goodbye to Inter and is rumoured to be going to sign for Juventus (Matilde Pavan could also be part of the deal, since she din't find much space in Inter this season); Benedetta Orsi, who is sure to leave Sassuolo, should go to Inter, where she's going to find her former coach Giampiero Piovani. Roma's re-foundation could probably mean that Valentina Giacinti is going to leave, but there is nothing definite yet about her future. For sure, Alessandro Spugna and Roma have decided to part ways: the coach will probably go to a club outside Italy, while Roma are evaluating different options (Sebastiàn De La Fuente, who also officially left Fiorentina, or Rita Guarino or a coach coming from men's football, following the model of Juventus with Massimiliano Canzi). By the way, Massimiliano Canzi himself was confirmed by Juve, but he will need to somehow refound too a team that finished the season on its knees and that lost a lot of key-players; at the moment, apart from the rumours I've mentioned, the few actual signings seem to be just fringe-players: DF Estela Cabonell (that I had already mentioned in a previous post) and Slovakian 19 yo FW Michaela Martiskova. Pablo Piñones-Arce (who, despite the name and the Chilean descent, is Swedish) will be the new coach of Fiorentina, that confirm their passion for the Nordic market (he has coached Hammarby in the past): we're going to see if he will be able to bring the club back to Europe. One of Fiorentina's first move has been calling Rachele Baldi back from Inter (although I am not sure this will mean significant playing time for her ). Meanwhile Milan are signing some players from abroad, although I have to confess they're not names I know ; it's mostly young dutches Suzanne Bakker took from Ajax: DFs Milicia Keijzer and Kay-Lee De Sanders and Spanish GK Sandra Estevez Ogalla. We're going to see how much playing time they'll get. Have I forgotten anything relevant?
@dravde will be happy to know that Italian women's football magazine LFootball has dedicated an article to Giorgia Arrigoni's season.
Italy are doing better and better on the youth side, eh? Watched just a little bit from the swedish game and must say I think Gallo will be somtething big. She carried herself with a lot confidence, reminded me a bit about Gama, and I mean not the hair, but the will to go forward, but Gallo felt a bit cooler,Gama always gave a slightly stressed impression. From the highlights against France I must say though, it was the usual problem, France just felt more athletic and faster, a bit like euros 2022, but not as brutal, in the euros 2022 french players felt like ferraris against Italys fiats Very nice and deservedly so. It's actually been a very good season for italian youth were Schatzer, Dragoni and Arrigoni has excelled and in this stiff competition Arrigoni was the best. It's just an ironic shame that both Arrigoni and Dragoni are out before the euros and Schatzer is still working herself back. Why is it so, that young italian players have started to get injured so much?We had Pavan before also. Not god at all Could it be an increase in training in the last seasons? The federation and the clubs must look deeply into this issue and see if there is things to be done to decrease the risk of injury Interesting talking points about the market. It seems like Inter go for the most high profile transfers, as they done for the last two seasons. Juves strategy seems to be to put in more muscles and cms t make them stronger, they were quite easily overrun last champions leauge season by Arsenal and Bayern, so it seems like Canzi decided to do something about the physical status of the team, we'll see if it pays out in CL. I think the key for Juve next season could be that they make Vangsgaard a goal scoring machine, if they do I think they're favourites for the title and will do well in CL. But it's a big 'if' and Vangs hasn't showed it yet, a bit like Hurtig long time ago. Milan on the other hand retained Ijeh for next season which was most important, with their youth talents getting one year older, I say watch out Roma! Speaking about Roma's, their status seems to be a bit in doubt next season. Key players from the last seasons, such as Linari, Haavi and Giacinti have all been in decline the last season. Do they risk missing CL again? For the rest: Lazio will be interesting, only team who didn't have a down period last season? and Fiorentina will be interesting with their new swedish coach. Could any team come from behind, what kind of teams are Parma, Ternana? Lazio last season I think they did the best new comer season I've seen, if we discount teams that didn't have a promotion before their first season.
Italy indeed lost by 1-2 vs France, a team that easily looks like it could be the champion of this edition of Euro U-19, but the lonely goal that was scored by Manuela Sciabica (who just turned 19 on the 19th of June) made a world of difference, since it allowed Italy to beat Poland (who were meanwhile drubbing Sweden by 5-0) on goal difference by just one single goal. Yes, she basically scored by scraping a wrong shot, but who does care? This way, Italy make the semifinals of the Euro U-19 tournament after 14 years! In the semifinal they'll have to face Spain on Tuesday: on paper it looks a quite hard task, but on the other hand Group B saw all kinds of craziness, so who knows? In the other semifinal France will clash with Portugal. Here are the highlights of the France match: A quite interesting story: one of the players of this Italy team (she was subbed-in at 67' of yesterday's match) is Roma's Elena Cristina Pizzuti. Well, she's half-Polish from her mother side and she could have easily represented Poland instead of Italy. Playing Euro-2025 in Poland and also getting the chance to play the U-20 WWC in her mother's country, where many of her parents live, is a dream come true for her! This article (in Italian) tells the whole story, while you can see her wearing Roma's jersey in the pic below.
Anyway, Laura Giuliani could do nothing in the semifinal against a Norway sporting young Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen. And that Norway went losing the final by 1-8 (!!!) to Germany! You have to wonder how that generation of German players couldn't win a Senior World Cup!
Doesn't it feel like italy anyway always can get a chance against Spain? I'm always more afraid against athletic teams like France, USA and England or Sweden sometimes. Italy can deal with technicality, but brute force is tougher I feel I'm being a bit of a parrot, always talking about italy's physical deficit against the top, but it is still true.
I could be wrong, but I'd anyway rather face Portugal than Spain in the semifinal. I heard that Portugal would have preferred Italy than France too. Oh, well!
Hehe ok, fair enough. I just meant of the top teams, I think Spain's style often fits Italy kinda well.
The draw for 2025-2026 UEFA Women's Champions' League's first rounds has taken place. Roma will face WFC Aktobe (a basically unknown Kazakh team) on the 27th of August and then, on the 30th of August, the winner of FC Nordsjælland, from Denmark, vs the Czechs of good old AC Sparta Praha (most likely the latter). Sparta Praha always use to be a decent opponent, but they can be in Roma's reach (if, of course, they patch up their current dismantling team with a good market campaign). Inter get Norwegian SK Brann on the 27th of August: how good are they right now, @Bauser? They seem like the most dangerous opponent, since the winner of Valur (Iceland) vs Sporting Braga (Portugal) on 30th of August looks much less worrying. Both Italian teams avoided Hammarby (that traditionally can always showcase something good) and especially Manchester United, so it looks like a decent draw.
Inter vs Brann looks like an interesting tie. Tough draw for Brann. Brann are pretty good at the moment. Second in Toppserien after 14 rounds. One point behind Vålerenga, but I rate Brann as better than Vålerenga. I believe they have a higher top level and a squad better suited for European matches. 20 y/o Signe Gaupset has been terrific this spring season in an attacking midfield role. I just hope Gemma Grainger puts her in the Norway team during the Euros instead of benching her.
Inter will lose Michela Cambiaghi (most probably to Juventus) but for the rest they're the same team that brilliantly conquered the 2nd place in Serie A Femminile and I expect them to raid the market to strenghten their team: UEFA WCL means a lot to them. It will be a very interesting clash indeed. It's a shame that one of these two teams will go out early! When the Norwegian league will resume, after the Euro? I expect Inter to be quite out of form, at the end of August, although of course they will start training soon after the end of the Euro to prepare for these matches.
Toppserien resumes 5th of August. Timing is ideal for Brann, I think. These summer UWCL qualifiers come at the right time to hurt the big clubs with bigger budgets. I remember Rosenborg knocked out Atletico Madrid last year. Brann can beat Inter, but we'll see what happens on the transfer market before making new predictions. Inter will be hosts of that mini group as well, so that's one up for the Italians.
This makes me think that, although I never particularly rooted for Inter, it could be a chance for me to watch some UEFA WCL's early matches live, since I live in Milan.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you a fan of AC Milan? You should hope that Inter lose then. You can dress up in red and support Brann.
I was an AC Milan fan in the past, when I was following men's football (we're talking about 20 years ago), but in women's football I actually don't have any bias. I heard Inter recently had a bad game on the men's side , so I don't actually need the women's side to crash out of the WCL early. An Italian women's team advancing, in my books, counts much more than my ancient anti-Inter rivalry coming from my men's football past.
Laura Giuliani and 22 other players for EURO 2025. This is the list of the 23 called up for the European Goalkeepers' Championship : Rachele Baldi (Inter), Francesca Durante (Fiorentina), Laura Giuliani (Milan). Defenders: Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Lucia Di Guglielmo (Roma), Martina Lenzini (Juventus), Elena Linari (Roma), Elisabetta Oliviero (Lazio), Julie Piga (Milan), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus). Midfielders: Arianna Caruso (Bayern Munich), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Eleonora Goldoni (Lazio), Giada Greggi (Roma), Eva Schatzer (Juventus), Annamaria Serturini (Inter), Emma Severini (Fiorentina). Forwards: Chiara Beccari (Juventus), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), Michela Cambiaghi (Inter), Sofia Cantore (Juventus), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Martina Piemonte (Lazio).
The list of the 23 players for the Euro 2025 is out, so it's time to discuss (and to see how close we were with our predictions! ). These are the names (including their respective jersey numbers): Goalkeepers: 12 Rachele Baldi (Inter), 22 Francesca Durante (Fiorentina), 1 Laura Giuliani (Milan); Defenders: 17 Lisa Boattin (Juventus), 3 Lucia Di Guglielmo (Roma), 19 Martina Lenzini (Juventus), 5 Elena Linari (Roma), 2 Elisabetta Oliviero (Lazio), 13 Julie Piga (Milan), 23 Cecilia Salvai (Juventus); Miedfielders: 18 Arianna Caruso (Bayern Monaco), 6 Manuela Giugliano (Roma), 16 Eleonora Goldoni (Lazio), 20 Giada Greggi (Roma), 4 Eva Schatzer (Juventus), 15 Annamaria Serturini (Inter), 8 Emma Severini (Fiorentina); Forwards: 14 Chiara Beccari (Juventus), 11 Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), 21 Michela Cambiaghi (Juventus), 7 Sofia Cantore (Washington Spirit), 10 Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), 9 Martina Piemonte (Lazio). * Emergency alternates: 27 Astrid Gilardi, 25 Valentina Bergamaschi, 26 Martina Rosucci, 24 Aurora Galli A piece of info first: Angelica Soffia had to leave the camp two days ago with an hamstring injury, so she wasn't actually "cut", she just wasn't available anymore. A second piece of info: 4 players formed an emergency-alternate group; they can be inserted in the list replacing an injured player until the midnight of the day before the debut of the competition. Ok, then let's go with the discussion: first point is that that Andrea Soncin indeed decided to bring 7 DFs, 7 MFs and 6 FWs. Let's start with the FWs, since they were the ones we had discussed more: the cuts were Margherita Monnecchi (predictable), Agnese Bonfantini (I had explained why I thought she was the other easiest cut) and... Valentina Giacinti! Although reasonable, I hadn't really see it coming. But I can understand: you have to bring players in a good form and this season Valentina Giacinti is not, period. The GKs are the expected ones, although Astrid Gilardi anyway gets a place as an emergency alternate. For the MFs, I had said that in my opinion Giada Greggi was mostly in and Aurora Galli was mostly out, thus one of Eleonora Goldoni, Flaminia Simonetti and Martina Tomaselli (the most likely cuts) anyway had a chance to make it. Indeed Aurora Galli was only in as an alternate, so Eleonora Goldoni makes the main roster. I am happy that the coach clearly saw Giada Greggi being physically ok, because I guess we'll need her turbo-speed at the Euro. Finally the DFs were basically the ones I expected: I had said 6 players were battling for the 7th spot and they became just 5 when Angelica Soffia had to go. In the end it was Julie Piga making it, probably because of her physical presence, that was her main asset. I would have bet on Valentina Bergamaschi, but she was only inserted in the alternates' group, along with Martina Rosucci, whose trump card is probably being able to replace a Central Defender or a Holding Midfielder alike (while Valentina Bergamaschi can cover any kind of winger). So Maria Luisa Filangeri and Beatrice Merlo are the only actual cuts. All in all, it was very similar to the team I had envisioned. I only thought Valentina Giacinti in a bad form was anyway a decent gamble, but Andrea Soncin of course disagreed.
You were first, because I also wanted to discuss the list in my post, so you posted while I was still writing.