European Under 21, Italy complicates life: 0-1 against Poland. Qualification at risk (photo by Ansa)
BOLOGNA – European Under-21 Championship , second day of the group stage. Italy-Poland 0-1, goal: Bielik at 40 '. Group ranking: Poland 6 , Italy 3 , Spain 3 and Belgium 0 points (eliminated).
- Here : during the game part choir against Juventus fans.
Italy complicates life, loses at home against Poland, and is no longer master of its destiny. After the glittering victory against Spain, the rude awakening against Poland arrived. The Azzurrini also played better than their opponents, they hit a post with Pellegrini and saw themselves netting a net to Orsolini for an offside position, but in the second half they didn't have the lucidity necessary to finalize the created actions and to impact the match. Poland made a bolt and won the game thanks to a shot, not even angled, by Bielik who was fiddled with a careless Meret.
Now the qualification discourse is terribly complicated. The Italians have the duty to win their last game against Belgium but they also have to deal with the result of Poland-Spain.
Mathematically access to the semi-final of Euro 2019, only the first place in the group. In the event of a draw or a victory for Poland over Spain, the Poles would go into the semifinals while Italy should face the other second-placed teams of the other groups to see if it has a better goal difference than theirs or not. They enter the semi-finals, the three group winners plus the best second among the three groups.
In case of victory of Spain, the three teams would close the group on equal points. There would be substantial equality even in direct clashes because Italy would have the victory against Spain but the defeat against Poland, while Poland would have the victory against Italy but the defeat against Spain, and the Spaniards would have the victory against the Poland but the defeat against Italy. At that point, one would see the goal difference to establish first-ranked, second-placed and third-placed.
A draw against Poland would have been enough to avoid this situation but now we have to look ahead, we must beat Belgium with a good score and hope for favorable crosses. A classic destiny from Italy, from a National who loves to complicate life.
Italy-Poland 0-1, the match report.
Di Biagio changes Italy to mortgage qualification for the semi-finals. The coach of the azzurrini launches from the first minute Adjapong, instead of Calabresi, Orsolini instead of Nicolò Zaniolo and Patrick Cutrone in place of Moise Kean. No surprise, however, in Poland.
The Italian national touches the goal at 4 '. Remarkable individual action by Federico Chiesa ended with an angled shot that came out of a whisper. At 6 ', Orsolini starts a very powerful cross shot that does not find the mirror of Poland's goal by a whisker. Another inspiration from Chiesa at 9 ', the Fiorentina striker's shot is blocked by Poland's goalkeeper Grabara.
At 21 ′, Roma football player Lorenzo Pellegrini nearly scored with a long-range shot. His conclusion came just a breath away with the goalkeeper from Poland already out of the picture. Italy devours the advantage at 31 ′. Chiesa offers a penalty in motion to Mandragora but the former Juventus player shoots out from a very good position. Poland ahead at 40 '.
On the development of a free kick in favor of the Poles, Bielik started a conclusion that surprised Meret. The shot was not angled, Meret touched it but failed to reject it.
At 43 ', the referee, with the help of the var, canceled the equalizer goal to Italy because Orsolini, author of the winning conclusion, had started from an offside position. The first half ended with Poland ahead of a goal against Italy.
At 48 ', Pellegrini tried the goal with a half-upside down on the edge of Cutrone but his conclusion ended high. At 51 ', Chiesa almost touched the balance with a great left fly that was miraculously saved by Grabara.
At 74 ', Pellegrini hit the crossbar in beaten Grabara. It's over, Poland won at home to Italy. Now the qualification is complicated for the Azzurrini.
Official formations of Italy-Poland, match valid for the second day of the European championship under 21.
ITALY (4-3-3): Meret; Adjapong, Mancini, Bastoni, Dimarco; Barella, Mandragora, Lo.Pellegrini; Orsolini, Cutrone, Church. Coach: Di Biagio.
POLAND (5-4-1): Grabara; Fila, Wieteska, Bielik, Bochniewicz, Pestka; Jagiello, Zurkowski, Dziczek, Szymanski; Kownacki. Coach: Michniewicz.
The European Under-21 article , Italy ko with Poland: qualification at risk. The combinations seem to be the first on daily Blitz .
Source: Blitz Quotidiano