Italy will face Venezuela on Thursday in the first of two friendly matches scheduled in the United States as part of its preparations for Euro 2024, scheduled from June 4 to July 4 in Germany.
The match will be held at the DRVBNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, where the Inter Miami team, led by Argentine star Lionel Messi, will play. It will serve as the scene of the first historic confrontation between Italy and Venezuela.
The “Azzurra”, led by Luciano Spalletti, will seek to revive the continental title they won in Germany in the 2020 European Championship, while the “Vinotinto”, led by Argentine coach Fernando Batista, will attempt to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in the edition scheduled for 2026 in the United States. Canada and Mexico.
Venezuela, which will play in Group B of the 2024 Copa America with Mexico, Ecuador and Jamaica, is in fourth place in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and on Sunday 24 will face Guatemala in its second friendly match in the United States. .
For its part, Italy, which will face Spain, Croatia and Albania in the second group of Euro 2024, will conclude its tour in the United States with a duel against Ecuador scheduled for the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, the site of the defeat. From New York Red Bulls.
The delegation had arrived in the United States the day before, where it received a special visit, where Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, No. 3 in the world, came to greet Spalletti, his team, and Gianluigi Buffon, head of the “Azzurra” delegation. World champion in Germany 2006.
Sinner, 22 years old and the 2024 Australian Open champion, received strong and prolonged applause from the national team players and the technical staff, led by Spalletti.
Sinner, the architect of Italy's historic second Davis Cup victory in 2023, is preparing to make his first appearance in the Miami Masters 1000 after reaching the semi-finals of the same category tournament in Indian Wells.
Sinner, who also spoke with Gabriele Gravina, President of the Italian Football Federation, will try to encourage the “Azzurra” at the “DRV PNK” stadium, which appointed Gianluca Mancini, Roma defender, instead of Francesco Acerbi (Inter). , who was accused by Brazilian Juan Jesus (Napoli) of directing a racist comment at him during the 1-1 draw between the two teams in the 29th round of the Italian League.
Spalletti also pointed to Raul Bellanova, from Torino, Michael Foloroncio (Hellas Verona) and Lorenzo Luca (Udinese), representing part of the renewal that the coach intends to promote for the future of Italy, which after Euro 2024 will seek to return to the league. World Cup after his successive absences in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
The 65-year-old coach announced before the trip to the United States that he intends to try different plans in the friendly matches against Venezuela and Ecuador, but he explained that “the matter will depend on the characteristics of who plays.”
“We have the possibility to hold both tests and surprise more by changing something, and there is the possibility of changing the system in the match depending on the procedure,” Spalletti said.
The friendlies against Venezuela and Ecuador will allow Italy to play in the United States again 30 years after losing the final on penalties to Brazil in the 1994 World Cup.
But Italy's last match in the United States was a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in 2005, when the “Azzurra” was coach of Marcello Lippi, who the following year was coach of the coronation in Germany.
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