PHOTO
The new season began with defeat for the Italy Women’s Under-19 team. In the first of two friendlies at the Olympic Training Centre in Tirrenia, the Azzurrine were beaten 5-1 by Norway, inspired by a four-goal haul from Marie Moen Preus, the top scorer at the 2025 UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship, where the Norwegians finished runners-up.
MATTEUCCI. “When you play matches like this, the aim is to build something new,” said head coach Nicola Matteucci. “It is also important that we encounter difficulties we can work on. We faced a strong side who recently reached the European Under-17 Championship final. The girls did well in spells and showed a reaction, so we have some positives to build on. When the scoreline becomes so one-sided, it is not easy to remain compact, but the team managed to do so and maintained the right attitude throughout. It is not always about making mistakes; you also have to recognise the quality of the opposition we faced today. They are much further ahead physically too, given that the Norwegian season is nearing its conclusion. We are still developing as a team and need to be ready for Round 1 of European qualifying in a month’s time. It would be worse if we encountered few difficulties today and then many next month, so these matches are opportunities for us to grow.”
THE MATCH Following Kroken’s save to deny Azzena and headed efforts from Gamst and Enger, Preus opened the scoring by turning Hagen’s cross from the right past Mallardi. Shortly afterwards, Askedal set up Preus for the second, which she scored with a left-footed finish from the middle of the box. Preus continued to take centre stage early in the second half, pouncing on a loose ball in the area and firing home with her right foot to make it 3-0. She then added a fourth from Berg’s assist, controlling the ball before sending another right-footed effort into the net. Late on, Halbmayr scored Norway’s fifth before Elisa Ciurleo (Inter) grabbed a consolation for Italy, using a clever backheel to create space before beating Kroken with her left foot.
The two sides will meet again at 11:00 CEST on Tuesday 13 October, once again in Tirrenia. Italy will then face Spain, Wales and Israel in Round 1 of UEFA Women’s Under-19 EURO qualifying in late November, with the venue yet to be confirmed. For those competitive fixtures, Matteucci will also be able to call upon the 2008-born players who were part of Italy’s fourth-place finish at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
