2-1 remains the final score, so Italy is in the final of the Algarve Cup, independent from the result of Portugal-Sweden that will be played later today (I anyway expect Sweden to advance: they're #2 in the world, and both a win and a draw would be good for them, since their goal difference, although from a forfeit, is better than Portugal's ). The goal we took at the end of 1st Half was really unfortunate, since we basically were in control and 2nd Half would have been much easier without it. Norway weren't anyway much dangerous, except with a Guro Reiten's shot that was wonderfully saved by Francesca Durante (as I had supposed, she had a chance to show her skills and she was ready to do it). The defense was quite good: in 1st Half Lisa Boattin and Martina Lenzini as Full-Backs were key to keep Norway at bay; at the Center-Back position young Benedetta Orsi was a little more shaky than at her debut vs Denmark (part of the goal we took sure is on her) but Elena Linari at her side helped her maintain composure even in the most difficult situations. I didn't like much Lucia Di Guglielmo, who replaced Lisa Boattin at HT, since she messed up a lot of situations and didn't seem comfortable at keeping possession for us: Norway were much more dangerous on their Right-Side (our Left-Side) with her on the pitch; Angelica Soffia, who replaced Lenzini on the opposite side deep into 2nd Half looked way more effective than Di Guglielmo. In the midfield, it was a match of great sacrifice by Manuela Giugliano, who often had to come back very deep on our defense-line to retrieve the ball (in the final part of the match she was exhausted and was correctly subbed-out, with Martina Rosucci bringing in some fresh legs); I didn't like much Aurora Galli (it seems to me that she regressed at Everton, instead of getting better with the experience abroad), who fought bravely but didn't show any particular hint of creativity: Valentina Cernoia in 2nd Half was much better and, now that she is back from her ankle injury, she should be considered again a lock-up starter in any important game, including the upcoming final vs Sweden: some of her long, accurate passes in 2nd Half were a joy to see and actually one of these actions that were started by her should have led to a third goal for Italy if Valentina Giacinti hadn't shot too much weakily and centrally, basically in GK's hands. Arianna Caruso was excellent, not only for being able to exploit Norway's defensive mess in 1st Half and scoring from Cristiana Girelli's back-heel assist, but also for the way she always managed to smartly keep the ball and to accept the physical challenge posed by Norwegian players. Our offensive "trident" (as we call a forward-trio here in Italy; @sbahnhof will take note ) was very good today: Valentina Giacinti scored a wonderful goal, one of the best ones in her NT career; what a volley: it had power, spin, accuracy and she managed to anticipate her marker despite the physical challenge Norwegian DF was posing. Of course, the fact Norwegian defense was caught unprepared from a throw-in action says it all about their current defensive set-up , but anyway Lenzini's assist and Giacinti's goal were awesome. Norwegian DFs didn't look much better when later in 1st Half Cristiana Girelli cut them off with a back-heel flip, but in general both Giacinti and Girelli were at the same point generous with their runs and high-pressing and effective in their action. Barbara Bonansea was even more spectacular for how she covered her wing and what's maybe surprising to some people (but not to those who knows her well) is that her defensive contribution was much more important than her offensive one in this game (to the point that she had to be replaced by Anna Maria Serturini when, at about 75', she was gassed). Valentina Bergamaschi was important too on the Right-side when she replaced Girelli earlier in 2nd Half (thus forcing Giacinti to move at a central-striker position, where she's a little less convincing). Coach Milena Bertolini tactically managed very well this game, and I guess Italy showed they deserve to be in the final of This Algarve Cup. Should they find Sweden there, I don't actually expect them to win (the 13-positions gap between the two teams is justified), but I guess they can anyway give them a run for their money. In Norway, I was impressed by Celin Bizet Ildhushøy, who, at 20, look indeed like a promising talent (I can understand what kind of potential PSG saw in her and why they signed her): I can't figure why the coach didn't even give some minutes as a sub to Emilie Haavi, who has been so good in Italian League so far . Edit: oh, highlight available already. Good!
The luck factor is always key to do well at tournaments. Also, with just 4 available opponents, there was a good 25% chance of getting the two worst ones from the draw, it was not as difficult as in other circumstances! Finally, according to FIFA women's rankings, the two worst teams of the tournament were actually Portugal (#29) and Italy themselves (#15). Denmark (#14), Norway (#12) and Sweden (#2) were all better, and Italy will probably have to meet the three of them, if they get Sweden in the final as expected.
If you have 2 bad teams out of four than you have only 16,66% probability to get both. NOR, DEN NOR, SWE NOR, POR DEN, SWE DEN, POR SWE, POR
Not only Sofia Cantore: this Algarve Cup is costing NT and Serie A some key-players' injuries. Alia Guagni and Martina Piemonte are going back to Italy early too, the first one with a muscle-injury at her calf, the second one with a much more worrying knee-injury that everyone hopes is not too much serious : Milan lose two new additions to their team that had revitalized it (while revitalizing their own careers at the same time). Let's hope these are not longtime injuries, but of course Milan will be affected.
The goals Italy scored vs Norway were so good that it's worth re-watching them from the ground-level camera (you'll need to stop the video, though, to catch Girelli's back-heel assist from this clip! ):
Yesterday, in a friendly match between U-19 NTs, Italy-Belgium 0-2 in Coverciano. It's always better to lose a friendly match than matches that really count, but this loss can sure be an alarm call for the upcoming round 2 matches of European qualifier in April (Switzerland looming!). It can be worth noting that Italian-American Tori DellaPeruta, who had already played the scrimmage against Italy U-23 NT from 5 days ago, debuted in an official match for Italy U-19 and played the whole match, thus setting a precedent for a future permanent affiliation to our National Team (I am not sure how exactly the rules read, but I suppose that, since we're just at Youth Teams, she still has the chance to switch back to USWNT; we anyway already called her and had her play a full game, just in case ).
As I wrote on the Algarve Cup thread, I had to miss the 1st Half of the final to work committments, but I watched the full 2nd Half and the penalty shootout. It's a shame that Italy in the end was beaten, but battling toe-to-toe with the #2 team in FIFA rankings is an achievement in itself. Of course, we had so many chances to win this cup (going ahead early with Valentina Giacinti wonderfully assisted by Barbara Bonansea; only taking a quite late equalizer from PK; having the chance to go ahead again at 84' from a a CK action where Arianna Caruso hit the crossbar on an open goal; perfectly converting the first 5 rounds of the penalty shootout and just having to surrender to the first of the "sudden-death" ones), that there is some inevitable disappointment in the end. But the final evaluation of the tournament can only be positive: two wins and a draw vs three Scandinavian teams that were ahead of Italy in FIFA Women's rankings; a visible boost in confidence and self-esteem for the whole team; a lot of new players or tactical solutions tried, that will help building the necessary depth in a team that often had to deal with injuries (let's not forget that we recently lost again Cecilia Salvai to ACL and that a key veteran as Elisa Bartoli was temporarily unavailable for this trip; don't get me even started about the injuries that happened during this very tournament! ). Since this tournament just had 6 games (+ 1 forfeit), 2 goals were enough for Valentina Giacinti to be joint top-scorer alongside Norwegian Celin Bizet Ildhusøy, while we can be proud of having Barbara Bonansea being voted best player of the tournament. Of course, in today's final, Sweden was missing some of their best players in first half (Caroline Seger, Stina Blackstenius), but it's not like they had started an actual "B team" as they had done vs Portugal, since anyway some big stars as Hedvig Lindahl, Kosovare Asllani or Sofia Jakobsson were on the pitch since the beginning. Given the difference in rankings (Italy #15, Sweden #2), I guess Italy made an excellent impression, that makes me look at our next matches with some confidence. A final thought for Annamaria Serturini: her inconsolable tears at the end of the penalty shootout were heart-breaking. After 5 unprecedented perfect rounds of penalties (it was ages I hadn't had the chance to watch such a good penalty shootout for both teams), it was fatal someone had to eventually miss: Serturini had good personal success in the past and she will have in the future. I feel like dedicating to her Francesco De Gregori's "La leva calcistica del '68", a famous Italian song about a passionate 12 yo player, whose famous chorus reads "Nino non aver paura di sbagliare un calcio di rigore..." ("Nino, don't be afraid of missing a penalty kick..."). A praise to Italian Federation, that always had higlights from Italy's matches at this tournament available at an unusually early time, compared to the past :
Penalties have that effect on people! Amping up the tension, maybe too much. First there's the peer pressure on the kickers, then the ritual of all the team linking arms on the halfway line, and after that, it doesn't matter if it's the World Cup or a friendly. Scotland won 5th place in the Pinatar Cup by beating Hungary on spot-kicks, but celebrated it more than they would've for a 90-minute win. So, Serturini isn't alone. Penalty shootouts are psychologically stressful and should be changed, but they're too established to change now. The men's NASL (USA) implemented a very entertaining alternative shootout over 40 years ago, a truer test of skills and you weren't expected to score like now, but it didn't catch on. This one ended 1-0.
I have to take issue with your characterization of the starting eleven against Portugal as being a "B" team. Sweden started a stronger team against them than the did against Italy. Hanna Glas, Amanda Ilestedt, Lina Hurtig, Stina Blackstenius, Filippa Angelahl and Caroline Seger were all major players in the Olympics campaign and are considered starters. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd has outcompeted Sofia Jakobsson in the last couple of qualifiers and Jennifer Falk is seen as on par with Hedvig Lindahl. Amanda Nilden is also seen as possibly having outcompeted Jonna Andersson as a left back although it's possible that Magdalena Ericsson would take over the the position when she gets back from injury. The only players missing who could be considered normal starters were Kosovari Asllani (instead of Madelen Janogy) and Fridolina Rolfö - as well as someone who would replace Emma Kullberg as a back (either Eriksson or Nathalie Björn). If we look at those who started the match against Italy, I would list Olivia Schough, Julia Roddar (a utility player who can play any position except maybe keeper), Josefine Rybrink (just her 3rd or 4th cap), Emma Berglund, Hanna Bennison, Elin Rubensson and Anna Anvegård as players who usually come off the bench if they come in at all. That leaves just four players who might be called normal starters, two of which seemed to have been outcompeted by other players for the starting assignment (Jonna Andersson and Sofia Jakobsson).
In fact I admit I hadn't looked up very closely to Sweden's starting team vs Portugal and I was under the false impression that the 0-0 at HT in that match was mostly due to Sweden not having most of their starters on the pitch (including indeed Asllani and Rolfö, who were instead, according to your report, the only "big names" missing). Also, I thought for some reason that Blackstenius hadn't started (she did instead) and I was still counting Jakobsson as a "best 11" name (that you tell me it's no more a case). I eat my words. Meanwhile, Serie A Femminile resumes this week-end with some very interesting matches for the "Champion's League zone" as Sassuolo-Milan and Roma-Inter.
Please don't be so hard on yourself. The players that started against Italy are really good players and it's not easy to be up to date on other NT:s. Jakobsson was extremely good during the Olympics and definitely a starter. After the Olympics she had a difficulties fitting into the Bayern squad and didn't get much playing time. That's why she has signed for the new NWSL team San Diego. As for the Swedish NT, it sort of stalled after the Olympics especially the vaunted right side where previously Hanna Glas and Jakobsson just tore up opponents. Gehardsson started to use Rytting-Kaneryd (who was the last player cut from the Olympics squad before Tokyo) in Jakobsson's spot.
And, as I was anticipating in the posts above, Serie A is back after February's international tournaments. The first match of today was Fiorentina-Lazio and it ended with a 2-2 draw that isn't much useful to Lazio (climbing at 4 points sure doesn't change their situation) and leaves a disappointing Fiorentina still in the middle of the relegation fight. Viola's offensive power is undeniable, with goals by Vero Boquete assisted by Valentina Giacinti or by Daniela Sabatino assisted by impressive 20 yo prospect Margherita Monnecchi; their defense... well, is a different story. Look at how Stephanie Breitner or Valery Vigilucci were easily beaten by Lazio's young striker Noemi Visentin. Also Fiorentina hasn't much depth in that part of the pitch, considering that Ukrainian Darja Kravets is out with covid and Norwegian Malin Sunde recently left the club and went back home. It's probably mental, but I start wondering if it couldn't happen that Fiorentina succumb to Napoli and Empoli (that are looking much more brilliant these days) and get relegated at one of these two teams' place. Talking about Napoli, their home win vs last-placed Hellas Verona was more difficult then expected, with the hosts equalizing Napoli's initial advantage and then threating to equalize again in 2nd Half by hitting quite some woodwork. In the end the home team wins by 2-1 with a brace by Romina Pinna, who was playing last season in 2nd Division in Pomigliano (the other team from Napoli) and was signed in the winter market-window coming from Cesena (so once again from 2nd Division). Napoli leapfrogged Empoli, while waiting for tomorrow's very difficult match their rivals have scheduled at home vs Juventus. It's the first time, since the beginning of the league, that Napoli manage to be out of the relegation zone, although by just one point and with a game more than their direct rival team. Fiorentina, who have the same number of games, are anyway just another point ahead. Interesting (?) statistical tidbit: today's goal by captain Michela Ledri was the first one for her team (out of the only 6 that Verona scored in 15 games) that wasn't scored by Lineth Cedeño. From the relegation zone to the Champions' League zone: Sassuolo-Milan ended 0-0. It could look like a disappointing stop for the home team's run, until your consider that they played almost all of the match with just 10 players, since Benedetta Orsi (who recently debuted for Italian NT in the Algarve Cup) was sent-off at 14' for DOGSO (she fouled Lindsey Thomas at the edge of the box). Milan, that was missing the players that had been injured in the Algarve Cup, Martina Piemonte and Alia Guagni (actually coach Maurizio Ganz recklessly tried to start Guagni anyway, only to have to sub her out at 11'! ), couldn't find a way to be dangerous and actually it looked like it was anyway Sassuolo, especially with Kamila Dubcova, who had more chances to go ahead with the score. While waiting for Roma-Inter tomorrow, the fight for the cherished Champions' League spot gets more and more interesting. Today's games: Fiorentina 2-2 Lazio Napoli 2-1 Hellas Verona Sassuolo 0-0 Milan Highlights:
Well, what can I say? Spectacular Sunday from Serie A Femminile: the fight for the title is suddenly re-opened, the Champions' League run is hotter than ever and in the relegation zone there are four teams crammed in a 2-points-span, trying to avoid the last relegation spot. Phew!!! Of course the game changer was the first loss for Juventus in almost three years, combined with Roma's win that reduce the distance between the two teams at just three points and sets up a sizzling Juventus-Roma clash on the next match-day!!! Of all of the teams in Serie A, I guess few would have guessed that Empoli would have been the first one to beat Juventus in this league, but the blue Tuscan team had already eliminated Firoentina from Coppa Italia a pair weeks ago and was desperately needing points after Napoli's win from yesterday, to leave the relegation-worthy third-to-last place. To put things in perspective, Juventus had lost their last league match on 27th of Match 2019 and had a subsequent unbeaten streak of 54 consecutive games! Now, since the beginning of 2022 they already had a draw (vs Fiorentina, another Tuscan team) and today's loss. So the race for the title, that seemed virtually closed a few weeks ago, is fully re-opened; difficult to explain this decline: injuries? Covid? The upcoming Champions' League's clash vs Olympique Lyon draining mental energy? Of course, people who were previously prasing coach Joe Montemurro as a genius are as soon ready to put the blame on him and on his "excessive" turn-over of the players. But in the end the game wasn't much different from many other ones from this season, where Juventus had come back strongly in 2nd Half: simply, this time going behind by 0-2 early was too much and the attempts to at least equalize were stopped by the crossbar (twice) and by a missed penalty by Cristiana Girelli (or, as you like it, a well saved PK by Alessia Capelletti). The hero of the day, Valeria Monterubbiano, on loan from Sassuolo, who scored the first goal for Empoli, could have happened to open and close the game for her team, since she committed the obvious foul on Lisa Boattin (who had already halved the handicap for Juventus by scoring a few minutes before) that led to the aformentioned PK. But in the end everything ended well for Empoli, who managed to pass Napoli once again, to catch up with Fiorentina and to see Pomigliano just one point ahead of them. Meanwhile Roma dispatched Inter easier than one could have expected, by 2-0 with a PK by Andressa Alves and a middle-range screamer by Manuela Giugliano (assisted by Emilie Haavi). This is Roma's 9th consecutive win in this league: next week's game vs Juventus in Turin will be the moment of truth to decide if they can really steal the title from the reigning champions. Finally, a very important game for the relegation zone was won with the minimal margin by Sampdoria vs Pomigliano, with an header from veteran striker Stefania Tarenzi, assisted by a CK from Yorely Rincón (later, Tarenzi almost equalized with another header towards the same goal, that in 2nd Half had though become her own goal! A miracle by GK Amanda Tampieri was needed). With this win Sampdoria lift themselves up at +8 over the third-to-last place. Pomigliano only have a +2 advantage remained (and next week have a difficult away game scheduled vs Inter ). Here are today's scores: Empoli 2-1 Juventus Roma 2-0 Inter Pomigliano 0-1 Sampdoria The new rankings Juventus 40 Roma 37 Sassuolo 35 Milan 32 Inter 29 Sampdoria 22 Pomigliano 16 Fiorentina 15 Empoli 15 Napoli 14 Lazio 4 Hellas Verona 1 Highlights:
The big match of this week-end leaves everything open, since Juventus-Roma ends on a 1-1 draw and the three points gap between the two teams remains unchanged (we're going to see tomorrow if Sassuolo and Milan can take advantage of this and get closer to the fight for the title with a win, or at least to a Champions' League spot; Inter, even with a win, would remain 9 points behind Juve and 6 points behind Roma and frankly seems out of contention already). Juventus scored first, with Cristiana Girelli forcing an unlucky own-goal by young NT prospect Angelica Soffia, but all of bianconere's weaknesses from the last two months were once again obvious and some great saves by Pauline Peyroud-Magnin were needed to limit Roma to just equalizing at the beginning of 2nd Half, when Emilie Haavi picked up a wrong back-pass by Valentina Cernoia and assisted Paloma Lázaro. It's by now obvious that, in this phase of the season, Juventus entered damage-control mode: a loss today could have spelled doom for their hope to win their 5th consecutive title; the fact that they managed to keep Roma at bay and to maintain their three point advantage is gold, although with this draw they are potentially allowing other teams to close the gap. Roma have to decide if the glass is half empty or half full: on one hand they wasted a chance by not winning the direct clash; on the other hand, they are still at a just one-win marging from the top, ready to take advantage of any other misstep by the reigning champions. It's a fact that their 9 consecutive wins streak ends here. Earlier today, Sampdoria had defeated Fiorentina by 2-0; it was the revenge from some disgruntled Fiorentina's rejects: coach Antonio Cincotta, who had been sacked last summer and now can look down at Fiorentina sitting 10 points behind his team, and forward Melania Martinovic, who found almost no playing time in Fiorentina in the first half of this season and signed for Sampdoria when Valentina Giacinti's arrival made it clear that she would have played even less. She punished her former team with an awesome volley and... you know when a player refrains from celebrating a goal scored versus her former team? Well, let's say this didn't happen today. It was also a battle of goalkeepers: Samp's Amanda Tampieri made some outstanding saves, while Sabrina Tasselli (who was replacing Katja Schroffenegger, probably injured since she wasn't on the bench either) did look quite out of her depth. At 6 match-days from the end of the league, with this second consecutive win Sampdoria can be virtually considered safe from the relegation battle, while Fiorentina keep spiraling down in flames: they now have to hope Napoli don't make any point vs Milan tomorrow, so they can keep their lonely one point advantage over the last relegation place. Finally, one-pointers of Hellas Verona made Empoli have a run for their money, but finally Dutch FW Chanté Dompig managed to break the lock at 73' from a chaotic scramble in Verona's box. It almost looked more difficult than the upset from last week vs Juventus, but these 6 points in two matches mean that Empoli have now a 3 points advantage over Fiorentina and a temporary 4 points and 2 points advantage respectively over Napoli and Pomigliano (that have though tomorrow's matches in hand). Results: Sampdoria 2-0 Fiorentina Juventus 1-1 Roma Hellas Verona 0-1 Empoli Highlights:
Very impressed by Roma! Presumably, Juventus have a slightly stronger team than they had last season(?), but they won't get such an emphatic Serie A title win as in 2020/21. What does that say about their rival clubs? Or are Juve just having a bad 2nd half of the season? (full Juve-Roma match is here) - 1st half/2nd half
Some of all that, basically: I wouldn't say that Juventus is particularly stronger, this season, than they were in season 2020-2021; sure, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin can be probably seen a slight upgrade to Laura Giuliani, Martina Lenzini coming back from the loan at Sassuolo became a key-piece of the defense (especially with so many injuries of veterans there) and some young offensive players, as Andrea Stašková and Agnese Bonfantini got more experienced and decidingly better. But the core of the team remained the same (and since so many of these core-players are now in their early 30s, I wonder how much longer this can last). The general level of Serie A Femminile, in my opinion, has risen up (with a mix of Italian players' growth and the league having become attractive to much more high level foreign players than in the past, when the league was basically getting mostly second string players: before men's professional teams were involved, no Italian female club could have afforded the likes of Linda Sembrant, Ajara Nchout Njoya, Emilie Haavi or, in the previous season, Yui Hasegawa). This goes on year by year (along with the growth of the tactical savvy of the coaches) and it now reached a point where basically every match is challenging and interesting. It's also true that Juventus is having a bad spell since the end of December/start of January break. It's not that they hadn't had difficult games before, but they used to always manage to turn the tables in 2nd Half, probably also because of their superior conditioning, while now they trail along quite heavily. It's also sure a fact that they spent a lot of physical and mental energy to advance from their Women's Champions' League group and right now they could be paying for that. So, a sum of the reasons you listed above. I frankly expect them to retain the title anyway, but it will much more difficult than it could have looked just a pair months ago.
Ah... where would football be without disgruntlement? Not like Clelland, earlier this year, as you said. She was almost too considerate to her ex-club. And marked her 4th goal by.. being literally hurt? "It literally hurts me to thrash you" www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EUdIKEkHBw&t=40s I will not. Calling it a poker is better than pretending a defence is a golf "bunker", but still, very confusing. Because this is a different game (calcio).
Talking of confusion... Here's the important media inglese! *Note: It's not that important ...3 relegations and 1 promotion? The league is reducing to 10 clubs? When did this happen? Is it an anti-Damallsvenskan move because of the Algarve penalty heartbreak? OK, no, it isn't that, but - reducing the division? It's certainly against the trend... "Serie A will become a Super League"