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Italy Ease Past Finland in Final Friendly Test, but Questions Remain
Published: June 7, 2016
When Dutch referee Bas Nijhuis blew his whistle for the final time, the Azzurri had a 2-0 victory—the first time they had won consecutive friendlies since 2014. An excellent defensive performance and a sterling game from Antonio Candreva saw Italy walk out winners, but the uncertainties still remain for manager Antonio Conte with a week left before their Euro 2016 opener.
Let's get what is certain out of the way now: This defence is going to be scary.
The so-called "Juventus bloc," made up of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and centre-backs Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, has been rock-solid in both of Italy's friendly tests. For the second straight game, they didn't allow a shot on target. Scotland and Finland combined for two shots total in the two matches.
It didn't matter that Buffon's deputy, Salvatore Sirigu, was between the sticks on Monday. The back three was dominant. If Conte wanted to get Sirigu some work after not seeing much game action this year at Paris Saint-Germain, he'd be disappointed. The 'keeper didn't touch the ball in open play until there were 20 minutes on the clock, and you could count on one hand the number of times he had to handle the ball over the 90 minutes.
The back three themselves spent as much time in the Finnish half of the field as they did their own. Chiellini bombed forward on several occasions, winning a few free-kicks and supplying a couple of dangerous balls—and he still found time to deliver one of those bone-crunching tackles he's so famous for in the 12th minute. Barzagli didn't go quite as far bu...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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