Italy dominated against Scotland, but only scraped a 1-0 win on Sunday in their penultimate warm-up match before the Euro 2016 and the Azzurri’s wayward shooting will be of concern to coach Antonio Conte.
The main culprit was Emanuele Giaccherini, who missed three golden opportunities in the first half.
Graziano Pelle scored the only goal of the game shortly before the hour mark. Eder laid off a superb through-ball from Daniele de Rossi and the Southampton striker curled into the right side of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Photo: AP
“I am happy for the goal, but we didn’t shine. We could have done better with our performance,” Pelle said. “There is a lot of room for improvement. We are working intensely to prepare for the Euros, to be ready. We’re not looking for excuses, we could have done better tonight.”
It was one-way traffic from the start and it took Scotland until the 77th minute to muster a shot at goal. Italy had 13 in the first half alone.
The victory was Italy’s first in five matches, although all of those were friendlies.
“We put in a lot of work, even if the pitch — which was awful — didn’t help us,” Conte said. “However, we are working hard, and I liked the lads’ spirit and commitment. We know we have to work and that we have a path to follow ... I don’t know if we will get the answers we’re looking for, but in the meantime we will look at the positives: We didn’t concede a goal, they didn’t have a shot on target and we won.”
Italy still have one more warm-up match before Euro 2016 against Finland on Monday next week, but it was the final game before Conte has to drop seven players today and name his final 23-man squad for the tournament.
“I will sleep calmly, but above all we will work to allow the fans to sleep calmly,” Conte said.
Italy are in one of the toughest groups at Euro 2016. They open in Group E against Belgium on June 13, before playing Sweden four days later and Ireland on June 22.
Conte is to step down after the tournament to manage Chelsea. Italian soccer federation president Carlo Tavecchio announced his successor is to be announced on Tuesday next week.
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