Roberto Mancini expects an entertaining match on Wednesday evening when Italy takes on the Dutch national team in the Nations League. The national coach of ‘La Squadra Azzurra’ does not think that the Orange should be underestimated.
“The Netherlands has a strong team with many talented players who get better every game,” Mancini said at his press conference on Tuesday evening. “They play sparkling and offensive football and I expect a high-quality game. We hope in any case to do even better than in our first meeting.”
Italy was 0-1 too strong for the Orange in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on September 7, but Mancini’s team should have won with bigger figures. The lack of effectiveness is a known problem, because the Italians only scored twice in their first three matches.
“The important thing is that we play well and create opportunities,” Mancini stressed. “After that you also need a bit of luck in the completion. This is a young team that needs to get even better and we have not been together that long. The goals will come.”
Mancini is not surprised by the Orange game against Bosnia
The 55-year-old Italian also saw on Sunday evening how much difficulty the Netherlands had in creating opportunities against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Still, he was not surprised by the game in Zenica, where it remained 0-0 after ninety minutes.
“It was a similar match to ours against Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Mancini referred to the 1-1 draw in Florence at the beginning of September. “Dominance in possession is not enough against a team that defends with eleven men.”
The match between Italy and the Netherlands starts on Wednesday at 8.45 pm in Bergamo. After three games, the Italians are in the lead with five points in group 1 of division A. Orange and Poland have one point less.
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