De Giorgi, Apulian pride: ‘What an honor to play for Europe at home’

For the first time since he was appointed coach (it was 2021), Ferdinando De Giorgi returns to his native Puglia leading the national team, among other things in the (hopefully) most important matches. “It is certainly an emotion and a pride – says the Italy coach on the eve of the round of 16 of the European Championship, moved from the usual 9.15pm to 6pm so as not to overlap with Luciano Spalletti’s Italy playing in Skopje, again against the Macedonians -. I think it’s similar for the federal president Manfredi: representing your country in matches like this in your own region is very nice. Then – like many Apulians – I remained tied to my land. I played in many cities, I trained abroad, but in all these years I have never changed my residence, which has always remained in Squinzano. When I return I smell the scents, I see the colors because they are different. Even the sun has a different appearance. I won’t talk to you then some food. Although obviously we have an established regime here…”. And when the national team’s favorite dish is not, the coach hesitates, undecided and then resolves with: “The fish here is special. Even the raw one, in fact, in Bari itself is an absolute specialty. It is no coincidence that it is said that all authentic Bari houses have a problem…”.

Hair

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Puglia was also the region from which he began his career, first Squinzano in Serie C and then Ugento with his first Serie A. He was a boy with long hair who dribbled. “Back then they chased me, today I’m the one chasing hair… It’s been a long time since those days.” Today he is busy taking the team first to the quarter-finals and then on Tuesday to ferry them to the final four in Rome next weekend. “Up until now we have set up our work trying to increase our value with each match. Even against Germany we had a long game. We also need this: staying on the pitch and knowing how to suffer. What happened in the group was certainly true ( which proved to be the most difficult, ed.) we will find it exasperated and increased in the playoff matches. For this reason, I aimed a lot at focusing on ourselves in these first matches. Knowing that we will have moments of difficulty, we try to train ourselves to face them. Starting with the match against North Macedonia which we don’t want to underestimate.”

Dialect

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An Italy that wins for a changing team. “These players have grown up, they are no longer kids. Their private lives have also changed. So too has their approach changed. But in the values ​​of the national team everything is the same, that doesn’t change.” Another theme is the pressure that is increasing as the goal gets closer. “We know where we want to get to. The boys are good. All this affection, this enthusiasm, is nice. We have asked the team to remain more isolated when there are no official moments, to prevent distractions from increasing. We do what we have to do, but let’s stay focused on the goal.” By the way: Manfredi and De Giorgi, this national team is Apulian-driven, what more do you have? “Exactly! We are thinking of introducing the use of dialect in the team…”. Have fun Fefé.