The leader of the national team speaks that at 15.30 (Rai 2 and Dazn) begins against Algeria: “Let’s learn from the blue” “
They put it on the poster, together with Fornal, Christenson, Fernando Kreling, Abdel-Aziz and Ngapeth. A sign that Alessandro Michieletto is one of the designated stars of the World Cup started on Friday. A sign that in the Philippines, as in the rest of the world, identify him as a symbol of Italy. He who revealed himself to the planet of the crushes at the European Championship four years ago and who was confirmed in the World Championship 2022. So that now in Manila it is to him and to our blues who everyone looks. For the other national teams are the reference, those to be attacked. To which to snatch the title, especially since the Olympiad and the recent Nations League final have revealed that in this adventure at the start today against Algeria (15.30, Rai 2 and Dazn) are vulnerable.
Do you feel under examination?
“Absolutely not. Rather we see the World Cup as a way to redeem the last game, the Nations League final: that we didn’t like a lot. A game that must not ruin the good guy had been done there, also because the second place in this event we had never conquered it. There are all the conditions to make up for it”.
During last winter, with the Olympiad that still burned, she said: “At the beginning of the next season we will have to talk to us, what has not worked in Paris was mentally”. Did you do it?
“Yes, yes. Because it is true that when you lose a semifinal, as it had happened there, often it becomes automatic that the final for third place also goes badly, which in that case was very important. But taking two 3-0 like this, for a team like ours, it was not a normal thing. Among us we also spoke about it during the winter, when we saw ourselves or we felt. Then we confronted each other with the staff. Certain difficult moments, but also on more strictly playing aspects.
What wasn’t it going?
“This remains among us.”
After the Olympics we confronted each other. The group is united and compact. They are not phrases made
Was it a matter of relationship?
“No, no: the group was and is perfect. There is no friction. They were sensations of insecurity related to certain situations in the field”.
The locker room is united, then …
“Yes, as usual. We are well together. And we work well, with tranquility and desire to improve. I assure you that they are not phrases made.”
She is the symbol man, or at least the attacker symbol …
“I feel grown up compared to the 2022 world championship, yes. I can give the team the best version of me. But we are all aware that our game, the results we want, do not depend on one or two players but on the group. There are those who do the points, there are those who maybe give a contribution on a moral or balance level. We all have it clear to you.
How much does the absence of lavia weigh?
“Much. He is an important player, accustomed to certain games. I am sorry for him, and for all of us, because I know we will miss it. But I’m confident: Bottolo has made a great season to Lube, Luca (Porro, ed) will go to Modena, and it would not go if he was not strong. They will not make Daniele regret. We will all play for him too”.
Before even this last summer for them triumphant, she said: “We have to learn from the girls”. More and more …
“More and more, yes. I am a great team. They deserve everything they have won. It is clear that it is the result of a project of many years. At this moment they have no rivals”.
I would like the girls to play the girls. At this moment they have no rivals
What would you like to take that team?
“Their superiority of the game compared to the opponents. But it is true that in the male it is more difficult to build such a domain. But Velasco was very good at putting everything back together, in a team that had been a little lost”.
Is the world championship better, with the round of 16 from inside or outside after the first phase, or would a second group stage be preferable?
“Better this way, like the football Champions League. But it is enough for me to play.”
Are the strongest France, Poland and Brazil?
“Yes, and then there will be some surprises, I think above all of the United States”.
And those three presumably will have in the threaded from the quarterfinals …
“So much you have to face them all. It is said so, right?”.
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