Italy U-19’s fall in Euro Final

By: Francesco | July 27th, 2008

After a unexpectedly getting to the final in the first place, the Italy U-19 squad fell to Germany 3-1 and had to satisfy themselves with second place. Italy had as much talent as the Germans, but lacked on the physical and psychological level. Italy started well with Fernando Forestieri, Alberto Paloschi, and Stefano Okaka Chuka all very active, and Paloschi almost put Italy ahead after the German defense committed an error, but the Milan striker’s lob was off target.
Italy held their own for most of the match but the Germans went ahead with a nice goal from Bender. Before half-time the German captain was sent off for his second yellow, but even with the Germans in 10 men the Italian teenagers could not overturn the result and could not find a way past the German defense. The Italian defense was pretty shaky and was even allowing the Germans into the game on the counter attack. Germany then dashed Italy’s hopes by scoring a second goal. Italy fought back and got a goal back when Okaka and the German goalkeeper jumped up for a ball and it was rebounded to Genoa midfielder Silvano Raggio Garibaldi, who headed into the empty net to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes left. Germany however put the result to bed when they scored almost immediately, with poor marking from Milan fullback Matteo Bruscagin on the German number 10 who headed it past Samp keeper Vincenzo Fiorillo. So in the end the Italian dream was crushed, however there are a number of players on the roster who look like they have bright futures- goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo, midfielders Andrea Mazzarani, Silvano Raggio Garibaldi, and Andrea Poli, and the attacking trio of Forestieri, Okaka, and Paloschi just to name a few. Another good thing to come out of the tournament was that Italy is now qualified for next summer’s FIFA 2009 U-20 World Cup, and we’ll see these kids again, plus maybe some new faces (Balotelli?) try to prove themselves on the world stage. Also, if you look at the stats, only a handful of these youth national team players ever go on to becoming superstars or have great careers. Some even fail to become U-21 regulars. So we’ll have to see how they pan out.