Blue faded: the Under-20s do worse than the senior national team
Less than twenty-four hours after the major national team took a beating at San Siro, defeated 4-1 by Norway in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, more bad news arrived for the Azzurri: Carmine Nunziata’s Under 20s, engaged in the U20 Elite League in Valencia, lost their third match in as many matches, surrendering 5-0 to Germany.
The Germans, who had already beaten the Italian selection 4-0 in the first match, reaffirmed their superiority by sinking the first blows in the final half, thanks to close goals by Brunner on a penalty kick at 40′ and Moerstedt, at 42′ and 44′, before making the score even more rounded in the last minutes of the match, with goals by Ulrich at’82’ and Brunner at’87’.
The Italy Under 20 was fielded with Zenti in goal, Aidoo, Reale, Stabile and Stante in defense, Berretta, Colombo, De Pieri and Mannini in midfield, Nuamah and Spinacce in attack. In the second half, Rispoli, Sardo, Lavelli, Pagnucco and Romano all entered at 46′ (in place of Berrette, Colombo, De Pieri, Mannini and Reale, respectively), as well as Berenbruch at’81’ for Spinacce and Riccio at’86’ for Nuamah.
They were also in the starting lineup.
In addition to the two games with Germany, Italy also lost to Portugal, 2-1, last Friday, with the Lusitanians able to come back from De Pieri’s Azzurri lead with goals from Ribeiro and Mauro Couto. Among the participants, Italy is the only team still with only defeats, among other things with one goal to its credit and 11 conceded. That is quite a different roster than Portugal’s five wins in as many matches and Germany’s four in six matches.
