Italy: experimental win over Luxembourg, with Conte emerging as the man to reboot the Azzurri
Italy were back in action on Wednesday night, three months after the trauma of losing the European play-off final on penalties against Bosnia-Herzegovina (1-1, 4-1 on pens). That defeat cost the Azzurri a third straight World Cup and Gennaro Gattuso his job. Against Luxembourg, Italy were in control without ever really convincing, scraping a 1-0 win thanks to a 49th-minute header from Francesco Pio Esposito. The Inter Milan forward and captain Gianluigi Donnarumma were the only survivors from the March 31 collapse in the matchday squad.
In the dugout, Silvio Baldini was in charge of the national team for only the second, and very likely final, time. The Under-21 boss was handed the role on an interim basis after Gattuso resigned, and for this international window he picked a heavily youthful squad, giving them senior exposure with a possible run at the 2028 Olympics in mind. A very experimental side, then, but one that at least avoided embarrassment against modest opposition while Europe’s heavyweights got on with their World Cup prep.
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Conte the favourite to lead a rebuilt Azzurri revival
Italy play again on Sunday in a second friendly, this time against Greece in Heraklion. Baldini will still be in the dugout, but that should be about it for him. The Italian federation is waiting for a new president to be elected on June 22 before officially naming the next national team coach.
In the meantime, one name keeps cropping up in the Italian press: Antonio Conte. The former Italy boss, who was in charge between 2014 and 2016 and has just left Napoli, is being touted as the clear frontrunner to take over. It makes sense, too, given the job in front of him: rebuild a national team scarred by back-to-back World Cup absences and give it a proper identity before the next round of major international fixtures.
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