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The ice has been broken, and any pre-tournament nerves are now in the past. The Italian team were all smiles as they made their debut at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, beating Cameroon 4-2 and claiming their first three points of the tournament. In the first-ever Olympic appearance by an Italian national futsal team, Sebastiano Giuffrida’s side showed no fear and gave a solid, convincing and tactically perfect performance, beating an African side whose physicality and athleticism gave Moro and her teammates a few headaches. In fact, the best player on the pitch (aside from Mirian Melfi, who scored a hat trick) was Italy’s goalkeeper Nicole Ginocchio, who gave a great personal performance between the posts, denying Cameroon on multiple occasions. With this result, Italy move to the top of Group B alongside Iran (who beat Costa Rica 3-0) ahead of their second match on Tuesday 3 November (11:00 AM). The Azzurrine are already in a strong position to make it through to the semi-finals: if they win the next match, they will be within touching distance of the knockout stages, paving the way for a shot at the medals.
THE MATCH. It was the Azzurre who made the stronger start: in the 2nd minute, a shot from Gallus forced Cameroon goalkeeper Leong into a big save. Cameroon didn’t sit back, though, and responded in kind, with Ginocchio making a save from Mimbama. However, after a stroke of luck, Italy went ahead in the 4th minute: a ball from Leong came off Melfi, who was pressing high, before finding its way into the back of the net to put the Italians in the lead. The tactical pattern of the match was quite clear: Italy sought to manage the tempo of the match using their quality in possession, whilst Cameroon were trying to ‘break it up’ with their bursts of extraordinary athleticism. The match continued along those lines, but then, with four minutes of the first half left, Cameroon had a triple chance to draw level – but a sensational Ginocchio was there to make three saves in quick succession. It was a difficult spell for the Azzurrine, who were still vulnerable to Cameroon’s bursts of energy, but Nicole Ginocchio’s amazing performance in goal meant the team could trust that they could preserve their lead. With a minute of the first half left, Italy even had a chance to double their lead after what would prove to be the best move of the match: Taccetti, Do Amaral and Gallus were flying towards the Cameroon goal, but Gallus’ final left-footed shot ended up going just wide.
SECOND HALF. The Azzurrine made a great start to the second half: after just two minutes, following an assist from Caiello, Melfi scored again with a close-range tap-in to make it 2-0. That goal unleashed the Italian attack: only one minute later a counterattack led by Zappia was finished off by Italy’s captain, Moro, who fired a right-footed shot under the crossbar, giving Leong no chance and tripling Italy’s lead. Cameroon tried to get themselves back into the match: in the 25th minute, Mimbama had a chance to make it 3-1 with a right-footed shot, but the amazing Nicole Ginocchio was once again standing in her way and, whilst in the splits, blocked the shot with the best save of the match. As the second half passed its halfway point, Cameroon’s attack appeared to lose a bit of momentum and, in the 32nd minute, Italy struck again: Melfi topped off her Olympic debut with a hat trick to make it 4-0 to Italy. With just under four minutes left on the clock, the Italian defence finally cracked: Mimbama, the best of the opposition players, stole the ball whilst pressing high and beat Ginocchio to make it 4-1. The goal revitalised Cameroon, who suddenly started to believe in themselves: with two minutes left on the clock, Elong scored to bring Cameroon to within two goals. During the frantic final 120 seconds of the match, Italy were at risk of conceding a couple more goals but ultimately managed to hold on and secure their first three points of the tournament.
ITALY 4-2 CAMEROON (HT: 1-0)
Italy: Ginocchio, Moro, Caiello, Gallus, Zappia. Substitutes: Negri, Lo Stocco, Taccetti, Melfi, Do Amaral. Coach: Giuffrida
Cameroon: Leong, Mimbama, Elong, Miyanui, Tchewa. Substitutes: Bolda, Nsangou, Oyie, Enama, Tejeona. Coach: Epee
Goals: 4’ Melfi (I); 22’ Melfi (I), 23’ Moro (I), 32’ Melfi (I), 36’ Mimbama (C), 38’ Elong (C)
Match Officials: Albooshi (United Arab Emirates), Chaito (Lebanon), Fujita (Japan), Alathwani (Saudi Arabia); Timekeeper: Llambrich (France)
Youth Olympic Games, Dakar 2026
Group A: Senegal, Fiji, Colombia, Ukraine
Group B: Italy, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Iran
Group B Fixtures
Matchday 1 (Sunday 1 November)
Costa Rica 0-3 Iran
Italy 4-2 Cameroon
Standings
Iran and Italy – 3 PTS, Cameroon and Costa Rica – 0 PTS
*Cover photo OIS/Hassan Wamwayi
Matchday 2 (Tuesday 3 November)
Italy v Costa Rica (11:00 CET)
Iran v Cameroon (13:00 CET)
Matchday 3 (Thursday 5 November)
Iran v Italy (11:00 CET)
Cameroon v Costa Rica (13:00 CET)
Knockout Stages
Semifinals (Sunday 8 November)
Group B Winners v Group A Runners-up (12:00 CET)
Group A Winners v Group B Runners-up (16:00 CET)
Finals (Wednesday 11 November)
Bronze medal match (12:00 CET)
Gold medal match (16:00 CET)