
eurosport.com
Bernardi scored the first goal in the 14th minute after an individual charge. However, this did not dampen the Italians’ excitement, since they played almost the entire first half in their opponent’s half.
The visitors relied entirely on defending, and when they attempted to strike their enemies, they were met with a lethal counter-attack that culminated in Ciro Immobile scoring. It was a superb counter-attack by the Italians, who took just a few seconds to pass the ball from under their own goal into the penalty area of their opponents.
The Italians, on the other hand, had more cause to be disappointed, as Immobile himself struggled to capitalize on at least two decent chances to improve the ranking.
It’s uncertain what precisely Robert Mancini said in the Italian locker room, but his players approached the second half with a new attitude, bent on extending their lead.
The Irish soon recognized their opportunity and started to play bolder and more aggressively. As a result, they had decent chances to score a goal nearly every few minutes, but they were unable to build on either of them.
The Italians were cool before the match, but Mancini’s personnel actions, which opted to bench the revelations of the matches of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League Federico Chiesa and Nicolo Barella, provoked more emotions than the outcome of the match.
Finally, the coach confirmed that he has a knack for fielding stars, and as a reward, he can revel in a record achievement. No selector in the history of the Italian national team could boast as many as 19 match victories after 28 matches with the team.
It is worth remembering that Mancini’s squad was only defeated twice during that period.
The Italians play an away game against Bulgaria on Sunday and a home game against Lithuania on Wednesday.
