THE FIRST OF MANY

Nicholas D'Agostino

On Wednesday June 1st, Italy will face Argentina in the first edition of the battle between the European champions and the South American champions. These two teams will face off in Wembley arena in England.

For the Italians it is a bit of a weird spot for them to be in. Fresh off a crushing defeat to North Macedonia in the World Cup qualifiers that saw their World Cup dreams come to an end for the second straight time. The Azzurri will be looking to bounce back and prove that they are the best team in Europe, whereas Argentina will be looking to improve their play while on the road to Qatar.

For the Azzurri, all eyes are on the young players that are involved in this new wave of Italian football. Since Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup, many questions were asked about where the team would go from here. Head Coach Roberto Mancini specified that they needed to give some of their younger players the chance to prove that they can be top players for their nation. Italy has a packed schedule with 5 games in 2 weeks, giving many of these younger players in the Italian system a chance to show what they can bring.

A few names that are featured on Italy’s list of call ups are Gianluca Scamacca, Nicolo, Zaniolo, Sandro Tonali, and Davide Frattesi. On top of these young players, most of Italy’s European championship squad did get the call up for this final against Argentina and it will be interesting to see who Mancini plays on Wednesday.

This game on Wednesday will most likely be Captain Giorgio Chiellini’s last game for his home country. Once Italy was eliminated from World Cup contention, all signs pointed to this game being Chiellini’s last. Over the last week, Chiellini’s teammates have spoken about his impact on the Italian squad to the media which shows how big of a loss Giorgio will be for this Italian side.

On Argentina’s side, many people have their eyes set on Lionel Messi. Argentina fans are looking for a magical moment of greatness from Messi that will hopefully crown Argentina the inaugural winners of the UEFA Cup of Champions. Coming into this match, Messi has been giving Italy all the credit; stating that Italy would have been World Cup favourites had they qualified for the tournament. He also commented on the match at hand, saying that it will be a big test for Argentina, especially leading up to the World Cup.

Probable Lineups

For Italy, they will most likely be going with a lineup that is similar to the one that won them the Euro cup last summer. The early reports suggest that Donnaruma will start with Di Lorenzo on the right, Chiellini and Bonucci in the heart of the defense and Emerson on the Left.

In the midfield, it seems as though Mancini will go with his most trusted group of Barella, Veratti and Jorginho while the attack could feature Insigne, Scammacca and Bernardeschi. If Mancini decides to go with this lineup it will have a nice balance of younger players and established Italian veterans. The other key factor here is that Ciro Immobile will not be an option as he hasn’t even been called up for this stretch of games.

For Argentina they will likely be changing their lineup from their last game which saw them use several different players who don’t often start for them. Lionel Scaloni-their coach- will most likely start Martinez in goal with Foyth, Romero, Otamendi and Acuna in the defense. De Paul, Rodriguez and Lo Celso will hold the midfield.

Rounding things off with a front three of Martinez, Di Maria and Messi. As we know these are just early suggestions and both managers can always go with other players.

This final will surely be a great and intense matchup. Italy will be looking to beat Argentina for the first time since 1987 and Argentina will be looking to keep that streak alive. We will all find out on Wednesday.