Rome, 10 May 2018 - Many smiles and the satisfaction to be played on par against one of the strongest teams in Europe, that Spain finalist of the last edition and able to win three European Under 17 Women's Championships. The day after the 0-0 with the Spanish, in the headquarters of the Azzurrine in Kaunas the climate is relaxed.
The draw (2-2) grabbed in extremis by Poland with England in the other Group A match makes the qualifying speech even more uncertain: the next four races will be decisive to assign the first two places, which open the doors of the semifinals offering the possibility to contend for the three passes for the November World Cup in Uruguay.
If Italy is still in full swing for the qualification it must also to Camilla Forcinella, protagonist debut with a couple of decisive saves. After closing from undefeated and with the inviolate door the élite Phase, the young thirty, class 2001, has collected the fourth consecutive clean sheet in blue shirt:
"It is thanks to the whole team - the Verona goalkeeper is shielded - we do a great job in the defensive phase and so I suffer fewer shots. I felt a bit of emotion before the race with Spain, but at the time of the anthem I tried to turn it into a grit and to use it in a positive way. I knew that ours was a compact group, but the match with Spain exceeded my expectations. We managed to play the ball calmly and we played an excellent match. "
Saturday (local 15, Italian 14) in Marijampole the team of Massimo Migliorini will face Poland with the awareness of being able to take a decisive step towards the semifinal: "We will have a very physical team, less strong than Spain from a technical point of view , but not to be underestimated, we can not afford it. We will have to be good at imposing our game. We believe in this qualification and we are not afraid ".
If the password for the present is 'to believe', the verb to be declined in the first person in the future is 'to dream': "In my men's football my idol is Gigi Buffon - confesses Camilla - and I also really appreciate Neuer. Among the women, the reference is Stephanie Östrom, who gave me many tips in my first year in Verona. I still have to grow a lot, the dream is to get to the National Team and I know that everything depends on me ".
And what is the main gift of the young blue goalkeeper? "Madness - confesses laughing - because to stay in the door you have to be a bit 'crazy. Apart from the jokes I like the high outputs, they tell me I'm good even in the low outputs, but I'll leave it to others because I'm very self-critical. Now I'm working on reactivity, while in the game with the feet I have to improve: with the right I'm doing well, with the left so ". From Saturday there is a story still to be written.
The groups of the final phase of the European Under 17 Women's Championship
Group A: Lithuania, Germany, Finland, Holland
Group B: Poland, Spain, ITALY, England
* Calendar, results and classification of Group B
First day (9 May)
ITALY-Spain 0-0
Poland-England 2-2
Ranking: ITALY, Spain, Poland and England 1 point
Second day (12 May)
ITALY-Poland (local 15 hours, Italian 14 - Marijampole FC Stadium)
England-Spain (local 13 hours, Italian 12 - Alytus)