A draw that is worth gold. There is no doubt that this harvest with Croatia is a point earned; question of the progress of the match, but also of overall quality. Sad to admit it but Kovac's men have a lot more than us, especially on an evening like yesterday's in which Pirlo, Verratti, Bonucci and Balotelli himself were missing. And so, at a certain point in the match, we found ourselves defending ourselves tooth and nail, while showing tactical organization and pride that bode well for the future. “I saw some steps forward, it wasn't a simple match – Antonio Conte's analysis. – They have an expert team, with experience and quality. This is an Italy that doesn't give up, we need to improve but there's a great desire to do so”.
When quality is low, tactical management becomes fundamental, and so, never like now, the extra man is really our coach. “You don't have to be afraid” he had warned on the eve, yet at one point we had it all right. The Croatians, backed by real top players such as Modric (who went out injured in the first half) and Rakitic, got the ball rolling wonderfully. Too bad (for them of course!) that Mandzukic wasn't in the evening of grace and that our defensive phase worked almost perfectly. Almost precisely, because on the most important night of Conte's (short) management, he betrayed the very man you don't expect: Gigi Buffon. The captain committed a serious error of judgment on Perisic's shot, conceding a goal which, out of 100 attempts, would save 99 times.
Towards the end of the first half, he then made a wrong exit, risking taking the second as well: making two ducks in front of a packed San Siro would have been injurious, fortunately that Ranocchia (by the way, great performance by the Nerazzurri centre-back) patched it up . However, until the Croatian draw we had seen a discreet Italy, capable of suffering but also of stinging. After 11 minutes of red and white monologue, in fact, the Azzurri had taken the lead with Candreva, very good at picking up Zaza's assist and turning it into gold with a right foot from him. Excellent first half from Lazio, one of the best players of the new Conti course.
For the first time then we saw various tactical changes in progress: from the initial 3-5-2 with Zaza and Immobile we moved on to a 4-4-1-1 with Marchisio attacking midfielder, El Shaarawy and Candreva as wingers, Pellè single point. Not a bad idea given that the Pharaoh broke up the unnerving Croatian ball possession with a couple of incursions from his, before the red and white hooligans themselves took care of interrupting the monologue. Their frequent launch of smoke bombs forced referee Kuipers to suspend him for 10': sanctions from UEFA are expected.
“I want to thank our fans because they supported us until the end – Conte thought to the Italian public. – Here we need everyone, enthusiasm, desire”. True, but those just seem to be there. If anything, a generational change up to the past would be needed, with a consequent injection of quality. In the meantime we are satisfied with this Italy, perhaps not beautiful to look at but with a heart this big.
