European women, tomorrow Italy-France: Gama and Bertolini speak

From our correspondent Alessandra Bocci

July 9
– rotheram (england)

The smiles remain, but the concentration also remains. “Because having fun doesn’t mean losing it, on the contrary”. Sara Gama, as a super experienced captain, talks about the atmosphere of these long days of retreat and all the desire now to test herself against one of the European favorites.

There is immediately a significant inconvenience for Italy and for the coach Milena Bertolini, given that Valentina Cernoia has remained at Blackburn and will not be available for the debut with France. But the coach makes the best of bad luck. We will have to rethink the midfield, but no drama. “When you face a tournament like this, with very high level matches, you have to think that there are 23 starters, because that’s really how it is. Valentina is very important but we have someone who can replace her.”

memories of world cup

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“It was great, but it passed, it is a baggage that we have to carry inside, but we must also turn the page and know that we face this competition with that beautiful experience that has made us richer”, says the coach. And Sara confirms her desire to look to the future as well as to the present. “That in France was a beautiful adventure, a beautiful moment, we all carry it within us, but this competition is different and we must continue to grow. Rather than having to reconnect the thread, I would say that in recent years we have followed a path of growth, that the moment is different, but here there is the best of world football and we have to field something more. We have worked and there is a mix of right experience between the experts and the new girls who have entered very well . We must remember everything we have done in recent years and have fun, because having fun does not mean losing concentration but on the contrary it helps. This is why we always work with a smile. We are growing and we must consolidate Italy’s role at international level in women’s football. ”

Italy has grown, Gama has grown from the European Championship won with the Under 19s. “Things have changed enormously if I think about that period and the naivety of age: we believed that by winning something would change and it didn’t. We didn’t win the World Cup, but we got the attention we deserved. In the last European championship we didn’t pass the group, unlike the other editions, and now we have to turn around. Let’s start from scratch in a different context. Seven of the top eight of the World Cup I’m here and you must always be at the top “.

tactics and culture

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Italy immediately faces a battleship, not the only one they would find along the way going forward in the tournament, and they ask the coach how they can fight with those who have a greater user base. Because Italian women’s football has grown, but not yet enough in terms of numbers. “Of course, those 15 years of non-planning are taken for granted. So how do you try to bridge the gap? You can make up for it with the organization of the game and the relationship between these girls, the compactness of the group is theirs. strength. What we have more than in other countries is also tactical knowledge, because we live football, we breathe it, it is part of our culture. The words that define the match we have to play against France? Courage and sacrifice. game plan, always. We tried to analyze the team to face and we will have to put into practice all the work done “.

Closing on the thought of the girls’ Italy as the only national team to cheer on in this year of the World Cup without blue. Bertolini and Gama are on the same wavelength: “The fact that the boys did not qualify for the World Cup is a defeat for the whole movement. The attention we expect is the same, last year the boys won the European Championship. they won it. We face our tournament feeling the affection of the Italians, which we know to be intense “, says the coach And the captain:” But we don’t feel more pressure for this. And it is important to start living the two parts of the movement in a distinct way, not in opposition. The right pressure, what is needed, we put it on ourselves “.