"Who plays centre-forward?". A shy group of kids raise their hands in the middle of a packed press conference to say "Us!" before the person sitting in the chair points one of them out: "He is a forward for the National team; if you are better than him then show yourselves".

The man who 'indicated the way' was Maurizio Viscidi, coordinator of the Azzurri's National youth sector, who with just a few, simple words grabbed everyone's attention, especially the 60 players called up by Massimiliano Favo for the Under-17 tournament, 'Torneo dei Gironi, which is taking place from Friday to Sunday 26 November at Novarello. "This tournament, together with the 'Torneo di Natale' (Under 15) and the other 'Torneo dei Gironi' (Under 16), represents a gateway to the National youth setup," specified Viscidi. "The lads are first watched with their clubs and the respective competitions they play in and then asked to ad hoc events like this one, where they get the chance to compete with each other".

Methodology and selection criteria. The Federation and Club Italia boast a "complete and constantly updated" database, the result of extensive scouting work with "70 games watched each weekend in the First Team and Youth Sector leagues", in which players are catalogued in a very specific way: "The colour system (red, yellow, light blue and blue azzurro) is one that allowes us to have a common language," said the National Youth Sector coordinator. " blue azzurro, for example, means someone who we think may have a future wearing the Men's Senior shirt, but it is not guaranteed that a 16-year old will become one at 23 and viceversa. Changes can come in both positive and negative forms." With that in mind, Viscidi recalls some lads, who also played in the Torneo dei Gironi, are with Luciano Spalletti's first team squad now: "Bastoni, Cristante, Donnarumma, Dimarco and Locatelli all started off their path with the Under 15s; Frattesi and Raspadori with the Under 17s and Chiesa with the Under 18s, and I could go on. Our objective is to intercept the talent as soon as possible and together with the clubs, who work with them on a daily basis, provide European and international experiences to bring these lads through to an international stage, and not only a domestic one".

Giacomo Raspadori: the 'surprise'. "It was a nice surprise," confessed Viscidi, "because he didn't have a 'high' colour, but now he is with the first team. He is from the class of 2000 and, over the years in the youth sector, the blue azzurro players were Moise Kean and Pietro Pellegri (with Genoa at the time) while Raspadori was considered a light blue, and for some even yellow. He's got where he has because of his intelligent play and superior moral qualities, aspects that are not always evaluated carefully by coaches. In football, it's not only about technical and tactical components." The Torneo dei Gironi, which is an investment for the Federation, has a clear objective: "I hope to find four 'light blue' players," he revealed, "lads who could fit into the squads that play at an international level. I don't expect to find one blue azzurro player because they are clearly a cut above the rest and have probably already been identified and picked up."

Francesco Camarda: the prodigy. One of the big names missing from the wekeend is AC Milan's 2008-born forward, who has been called up to their first team squad ahead of the game with Fiorentina for matchday 13 in Serie A at San Siro: "We don't need the National teams to find out about him," underlined Viscidi. "We're talking about a centre-forward, determined and a great finisher, as seen, especially, in the Youth League (three games, three goals and one assist). It's right he's on everyone's lips at the moment because he has the characteristics to become a big player, even on an international stage. The Torneo dei Gironi, though, is used mainly to find the new Raspadori-type players, lads that don't catch the eye immediately but still have important qualities".

THE GAME. On the second day of the tournament, the Under-17 side beat a B Representative side, coached by Daniele Franceschini, 2-0 thanks to goals from Mattia Mosconi (Inter) in the first half (2') and Alessandro Di Nunzio (Roma) after the break (65'+1). The event ends on Sunday 26 November (11:00 CET), with Massimiliano Favo's Azzurrini taking on Matteo Barella's B Representative side, both on three points.

U17 National Team 2-0 B Representative
Scorers: 2' Mosconi (N), 65'+1 Di Nunzio (N).

U17 (4-3-1-2) : Nunziante (36' Dolfi); Colombo (36' Cappelletti), Vezzosi (36' Verde), Garofalo (36' Maffessoli), Cama (36' Maggiore, 61' Cama); Coletta (36' Mancuso), Di Nunzio, Pisani (18' Olivieri); Orlandi (36' Plicco); Mosconi ©, Maiorana (36' Castaldo).
Subs: -
Head Coach.: Massimiliano Favo.

B Representative (4-3-1-2) : Nyarko (36' Versari); Odero (36' Castelli), Terlizzi, Ebano (36' Nuvoli), Perera (36' Contarini ©); Panico (36' Puzzo), Mantini © (36' Huqi), Ossola (36' Malfitano); Della Rovere (36' Vaccaro); Evangelista, Negri (36' Turella).
Subs.: -
Head Coach.: Daniele Franceschini.

 

 

Referee: Diego Marcelli.
Assistant 1: Loris Mancini.
Assistant 2: Federico Mori.

Notes: stoppage-time 2' and 2'st. Corners: 7-3.

Squad List

Goalkeepers: Gioele Bosi (Lazio)*, Brando Dolfi (Fiorentina), Alessandro Nunziante (Benevento), Lorenzo Nyarko (Sassuolo), Giorgio Stomeo (Roma), Francesco Versari (Empoli);
Defenders: Cristian Cama (Roma), Alessio Campanelli (Bari), Mattia Cappelletti (Milan), Davide Castelli (Monza), Federico Colombo (Milan), Jacopo Contarini (Juventus), Edoardo Dalla Nora (Venezia), Sebastiano Ebano (Spezia)**, Christian Garofalo (Napoli), Alessandro Luchetti (Inter)****, Manuel Maffessoli (Atalanta), Gianluca Maggiore (Atalanta), Federico Nardin (Roma), Francesco Nuvoli (Venezia), Martino Odero (Genoa), Nirash Raffaello Perera (Milan), Niccolò Rizzo (Juventus), Tommaso Rugani (Empoli), Federico Terlizzi (Roma), Francesco Verde (Juventus), Giorgio Vezzosi (Sassuolo), Diego Zingone (Juventus);
Midfielders: Davide Atzeni (Fiorentina), Filippo Bellino (Juventus)***, Federico Coletta (Roma), Guido Della Rovere (Cremonese), Alessandro Di Nunzio (Roma), Mattia Huqi (Empoli), Roberto Malfitano (Cagliari), Matias Mancuso (Inter), Matteo Mantini (Inter), Francesco Mariutto (Venezia), Antonio Stefano Merola (Juventus), Andrea Mussini (Sassuolo), Giulio Nebuloso (Lazio), Alessandro Olivieri (Empoli), Andrea Orlandi (Empoli), Lorenzo Ossola (Milan), Francesco Panico (Roma)*****, Diego Pisani (Fiorentina), Elia Plicco (Parma), Alessandro Puzzo (Colonia), Manuel Scacchi (Roma);
Forwards: Francesco Castaldo (Bologna), Carlo Evangelista (Fiorentina), Briajan Gjyla (Feralpisalò), Jamal Iddrissou (Inter), Francesco Leone (Juventus), Stefano Maiorana (Fiorentina), Gabriele Mazzetti (Bologna), Mattia Mosconi (Inter), Simone Negri (Bologna), Mattia Turella (Venezia), Christian Vaccaro (Palermo).

*replaced Massimo Pessina (Bologna).
**replaced Alessandro De Luca (Bologna).
***replaced Emanuele Sala (Milan).
****replaced Nicolas Trabucchi (Parma).
*****replaced Niccolò Gariani (Atalanta).

Staff - Coaches: Massimiliano Favo, Matteo Barella and Daniele Franceschini; National Youth Sector Coordinator: Maurizio Viscidi; Goalkeepeing Coordinator: Gaetano Petrelli; Junior Scouting Area representative: Alessandro Musicco; Fitness coach: Adalberto Zamuner; Goalkeeping coach dei portieri: Davide Quironi; Match analyst: Andrea Loiacono; Doctors: Alessio Rossato and Sofia Calaciura Clarich; Physiotherapists: Marco Fiore and Enrico Matera; Nutritionist: Claudio Pecorella; Press Office: Alessandro Paoli; Secretary: Massimo Petracchini; Observers: Luca Briccarello, Andrea Campatelli, Gianpietro Di Pierro, Claudio Gabetta, Italo Graziani, Christian Maggio, Domenico Maggiora, Antonio Martella, Matteo Orlandoni, Daniele Ranzato, Giovanni Re, Armando Reggianini, Francesco Talarico and Carlo Zanantoni.