June 20, (THEWILL)- In their final group fixture of the Euros 2020 competition, Italy’s Matteo Pessina’s first-half goal was enough to see them defeat Wales and to finish Group A with a perfect record, having won their two initial matches in this first stage of the continental challenge.
Yet, even in their loss, Wales also join Italy to scale through and will also celebrate their progress to the round of 16 ahead of Switzerland and Turkey, the other teams that were drawn in the group with them and who finish third and fourth respectively.
Italian manager Roberto Mancini rang out eight changes to the team that faced Wales and the momentum of the squad did not bear any evidence of those many changes. Andrea Belotti and Fedrico Chiesa both threatened to break the deadlock in the opening half hour without luck but Italy always looked the most likely to score.
On the other side, Welsh defender Chris Gunter, who was playing his 102nd game without a goal, went closest for Wales in the first half when he headed the ball towards goal only to see the attempt end up on the roof of the net instead.
Then, nine minutes after the half hour mark, Atalanta midfielder Pessina found a way through for the Azzurris. He aided Marco Verratti’s free-kick with the cutest of side-footed glances to nudge the ball slightly beyond Danny Ward’s dive so that it nestled in the back of the net to Italy’s advantage.
The second half began brightly for the leaders as a good scoring opportunity for Federico Bernardeschi came off the post as a clear warning of more goals against Wales. When Welsh centre-back Ethan Ampadu was shown a straight red card for a Bernardeschi tackle in the opening ten minutes of the second half, they took that warning to heart.
Credit goes to the Welsh for heeding the alert and being stout in defense to limit the deficit. More than that, they also kept up their attempts to level the scores rather than confine themselves to only defending. But for a little, Gareth Bale’s back-post volley could have seen the two sides share the points at the end.
At the final whistle, it made no difference since the points tally meant Robert Page’s side qualify as group runners-up, finishing ahead of Switzerland on goal difference and easily making it to the round of 16 of the competition.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
