Nazionale A - Italia-San Marino
Italy side of the future beats San Marino 8-0 with Lapadula netting a hat-trick
Italy ran, scored and played entertaining football in Empoli as they beat San Marino 8-0 with four goals in each half of a friendly as Italian football put faith in its young players. Gian Piero Ventura, together with the FIGC, has started on a programme to oversee a generational change in order to remain in the elite of world football. The match with San Marino was the finishing point after four training camps organised since November dedicated to emerging players from Serie A and B and the result can be seen with the Azzurri’s declining average age from Italy vs. France in September (31) to Netherlands vs. Italy in March (26.7).
“This match doesn’t confirm much for those playing now other than that there’s a whole group of guys who want to be there and that’s the nicest and most important thing,” said Ventura. “The spirit was the right one, the result didn’t matter as we weren’t playing against one of the best teams but it was the first game for the players from the camps to say who they are and who they want to become. There wasn’t much space and we put together some good passages of play, especially in the first 30 minutes. I don’t know when but some of these players will be part of Italy’s future. They’re very young, they have potential and they will need time to find the right path to make the most of it.”
It was an Italy side where eight out of the starting eleven were debutants as only D’Ambrosio, Gagliardini and Petagna had already made their Azzurri debuts. Ventura went with a 4-2-4 with Caldara and Gian Marco Ferrari the centre-backs ahead of Scuffet while Conti and D’Ambrosio were at full-back. Gagliardini and Baselli were tasked with directing the play from the middle while Chiesa and Berardi were on the flanks with Petagna and Lapadula up front.
Italy started pushing from the very start against a weaker opponent, who currently occupy 204th place in the FIFA World Rankings. Ventura´s team scored four goals in the first 20 minutes. It was Lapadula´s header from Conti’s cross which gave the Azzurri the lead in the tenth minute. Italy´s second came just four minutes later. Another header, this time it was Gian Marco Ferrari taking advantage from Chiesa´s corner kick. It was truly a special week for the Crotone defender, who just a few days earlier celebrated with his club the feat of Serie A survival, which had seemed impossible a month ago. The Azzurri added two more through Petagna and Lapadula, with the Milan forward capitalising on the assist from the Azzurri captain Berardi. There was no work at all for Italy´s goalkeeper Scuffet, whilst Italy went close to adding a fifth in the final moments of the first half, but Benedettini saved from Federico Chiesa´s attempt from close range.
Ventura opted for many changes during the half-time break and sent Cataldi onto the pitch with Pellegrini, Politano and Falcinelli. Caldara made it 5-0 in the 48th minute, proving once again to be a defender with a goalscoring instinct. Lapadula scored his hat-trick three minutes later thanks to a lob from the edge of the box. Italy´s seventh even eclipsed Ladadula´s effort as Politano brilliantly chipped the ball past Simoncini, who had replaced Benedettini during the break, and he earned Ventura´s applause as a result. The Azzurri´s eighth goal came from a very elaborate routine from a set piece that ended up in an own goal from Bonini. Caprari and Biraghi entered the pitch right after, whilst Falcinelli had two big chances to get onto scoresheet but he failed to convert.
“Our coach cared a lot about our attitude,” remarked Lapadula. “It was an important game for us, we wanted to do well. I´m pleased with how we put into practice all of the things that we trained on.”
Italy´s Sports Minister Luca Lotti was also there to applaud the Azzurri: "Empoli deserved such a night, it´s great to see such a young National Team. Ventura is doing a great job and you can clearly see the results.”
“This match doesn’t confirm much for those playing now other than that there’s a whole group of guys who want to be there and that’s the nicest and most important thing,” said Ventura. “The spirit was the right one, the result didn’t matter as we weren’t playing against one of the best teams but it was the first game for the players from the camps to say who they are and who they want to become. There wasn’t much space and we put together some good passages of play, especially in the first 30 minutes. I don’t know when but some of these players will be part of Italy’s future. They’re very young, they have potential and they will need time to find the right path to make the most of it.”
It was an Italy side where eight out of the starting eleven were debutants as only D’Ambrosio, Gagliardini and Petagna had already made their Azzurri debuts. Ventura went with a 4-2-4 with Caldara and Gian Marco Ferrari the centre-backs ahead of Scuffet while Conti and D’Ambrosio were at full-back. Gagliardini and Baselli were tasked with directing the play from the middle while Chiesa and Berardi were on the flanks with Petagna and Lapadula up front.
Italy started pushing from the very start against a weaker opponent, who currently occupy 204th place in the FIFA World Rankings. Ventura´s team scored four goals in the first 20 minutes. It was Lapadula´s header from Conti’s cross which gave the Azzurri the lead in the tenth minute. Italy´s second came just four minutes later. Another header, this time it was Gian Marco Ferrari taking advantage from Chiesa´s corner kick. It was truly a special week for the Crotone defender, who just a few days earlier celebrated with his club the feat of Serie A survival, which had seemed impossible a month ago. The Azzurri added two more through Petagna and Lapadula, with the Milan forward capitalising on the assist from the Azzurri captain Berardi. There was no work at all for Italy´s goalkeeper Scuffet, whilst Italy went close to adding a fifth in the final moments of the first half, but Benedettini saved from Federico Chiesa´s attempt from close range.
Ventura opted for many changes during the half-time break and sent Cataldi onto the pitch with Pellegrini, Politano and Falcinelli. Caldara made it 5-0 in the 48th minute, proving once again to be a defender with a goalscoring instinct. Lapadula scored his hat-trick three minutes later thanks to a lob from the edge of the box. Italy´s seventh even eclipsed Ladadula´s effort as Politano brilliantly chipped the ball past Simoncini, who had replaced Benedettini during the break, and he earned Ventura´s applause as a result. The Azzurri´s eighth goal came from a very elaborate routine from a set piece that ended up in an own goal from Bonini. Caprari and Biraghi entered the pitch right after, whilst Falcinelli had two big chances to get onto scoresheet but he failed to convert.
“Our coach cared a lot about our attitude,” remarked Lapadula. “It was an important game for us, we wanted to do well. I´m pleased with how we put into practice all of the things that we trained on.”
Italy´s Sports Minister Luca Lotti was also there to applaud the Azzurri: "Empoli deserved such a night, it´s great to see such a young National Team. Ventura is doing a great job and you can clearly see the results.”