Italy will face Finland at Dacia Arena, in Udine, in UEFA Europe 2020 Qualification 1th Round. Italy against Finland is the match with big interest because of great National squads and great perspectives in Qualification. Review our thoughts on this match here below.

Group H

1. Italy

2. Greece

3. Armenia

4. Bosnia & Herzegovina

5. Liechtenstein

6. Finland

 

Italy

FIFA Rating – 18

Italy has a very strong team, however, they failed to succeed in qualification to the World Cup in 2017. They lost to Sweden in Promotion Final and lost a chance to play in the biggest national tournament. In total, last year for Italy’s national team was very unsuccessful, as they missed the world championship, took second place in UEFA Nations League but at least they have retained a place in the highest League. They lost once, have drawn two games and won only against Poland, as a result, this threw them into League B.  In the last 7 matches, they lost once, won 2 and have drawn 4 matches. Italy scored 5 goals and conceded 4, as we can see they play very defensive football, without a strong impact in attack.

There are so many things to do, to improve the attack, start scoring more goals, play more confident football and fight for getting into the European Championship. Moreover, they have superstars in their team and very experienced Head Coach. They called a very big amount of attackers this time, so we can expect more pressure in front.

 

Head Coach

Roberto Mancini

Squad

Goalkeepers

Alessio Cragno; Gianluigi Donnarumma; Mattia Perin; Salvatore Sirigu;

Defenders

Cristiano Biraghi; Leonardo Bonucci; Giorgio Chiellini; Alessandro Florenzi; Armando Izzo; Gianluca Mancini; Cristiano Piccini; Alessio Romagnoli; Leonardo Spinazzola;

Midfielders

Nicolo Barella; Bryan Cristante; Jorginho; Stefano Sensi; Marco Verratti; Nicolo Zaniolo;

Strikers

Federico Bernardeschi; Federico Chiesa; Stephan El Shaarawy; Vincenzo Grifo; Ciro Immobile; Moise Kean; Kevin Lasagna; Leonardo Pavoletti; Matteo Politano; Fabio Quagliarella;

 

Finland

FIFA Rating – 59

Finland is a strong middle-class national squad in Europe. In UEFA Nations League they took first place and will play in Playoffs. They won 4 and lost 2 last matches against Hungary and Greece in their stadiums. Sometimes they play great football against strong opponents, but they can play very poorly against weak ones. Unfortunately, the team is not yet ready to conquer Europe, especially, to play at the world level. Now the squad players consist mainly from the Scandinavian clubs. However, there are several players from the Bundesliga, Spanish, and Italy’s club, but in total for the country, there is still something to work on for the development of football for the future.

 

Head Coach

Markku Kanerva

Goalkeepers

Lukas Hradecky (Bayer Leverkusen); Jesse Joronen (FC Kobenhavn); Anssi Jaakkola (Reading FC);

Defenders

Paulus Arajuuri (Brondby); Albin Granlund (Orebro); Juha Pirinen (Tromso); Leo Vaisanen (FC Den Bosch); Sauli Vaisanen (Crotone); Joona Toivio (BK Hacken);

Midfielders

Joni Kauko (Esbjerg), Rasmus Schuller (Minnesota United); Glen Kamara (Rangers); Lassi Lappalainen (HJK); Fredrik Jensen (Augsburg); Tim Sparv (Midtjylland); Thomas Lam (PEC Zwolle); Markku Kanerva (FC Honka); Robert Taylor (Tromso); Pyry Soiri (Admira Wacker); Rasmus Karjalainen (KuPS); Robin Lod (Sporting Gijon);

Attakers

Kasper Hamalainen (Legia Warsaw); Petteri Forsell (MKS Miedz Legnica); Teemu Pukki (Norwich City);

 

H2H

Last time these teams played was in Friendly match where Italy was stronger on their pitch in Verona. Italy totally took the lead of the match and possessed the ball 58% of the time, moreover, they made 21 goal attempts, while Finland made 1 shot, and it went wide. The Italians, of course, were stronger, a similar alignment awaits the teams in the upcoming match.

 

Article Image Taken From https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/italy-complete-euro-2016-warm-up-with-comfortable-win-1.2674924