National team in Ljubljana, Costantini: "Tomorrow will be a completely different match"

The Titani are in Ljubljana. Arriving late morning in the Slovenian capital on a charter flight from Rimini, they got a first feel for the pitch at the Stozice Stadium during the official training session scheduled for 18:00. A useful run-out for Fabrizio Costantini and his staff to assess the condition of the 23 players called up, in the wake of Thursday’s energy-sapping clash at the San Marino Stadium: “We are left with the feeling that we played a very good match, putting in a performance that was positive in terms of our qualities and in relation to what we had prepared,” Costantini commented. “We paid a high price for two small lapses that led to Northern Ireland’s goals, which reminds us of the level of competitions in which the National Team is asked to compete – at the top level there is no room for lapses in focus or concentration. Overall, however, I judge what the lads produced on Thursday in a positive light.” It is far too early to sketch out a likely starting XI, in which Mirko Palazzi will certainly not feature. The San Marino defender has not travelled to Ljubljana, due to the injury he picked up in the first half of the Serravalle match two days ago. Taking his place on the trip to Slovenia is Tommaso Zafferani, a wide player with La Fiorita, while the other 22 players involved in the opening match of the European Qualifiers have all been retained. “The official training session helped us to get a clearer picture of the players’ condition, which we will in any case keep monitoring right up to tomorrow, when we will finalise the starting line-up,” Costantini continued. “Aside from Palazzi’s injury in the first half against Northern Ireland, there is more than one player still feeling the effects of Thursday’s demanding match. These are games that require an amount of energy well above the average of the fixtures you play during the season and – looking at the data – we covered a huge distance. Even the younger players struggled with that, and it will require a case-by-case assessment before we make a final decision on who will start tomorrow.” Awaiting them is an opponent whose tactical set-up and game plan will be very different from Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland. The Slovenians won their opener in Astana, beating Kazakhstan 2-1: “Kazakhstan did really well in the match that Slovenia eventually turned in their favour,” Costantini began. “In terms of the type of match we are going to play, you could say we are expecting the opposite of what we experienced against Northern Ireland. We will face a team with very good technical qualities that very rarely plays long balls. They are good at creating density in the middle of the pitch and then switching the ball out wide, where they look to create overloads with players who are strong in one‑v‑one situations. We will have to be good at keeping them in less dangerous areas.” These are the 23 players called up by Fabrizio Costantini for tomorrow’s Slovenia–San Marino match, live free-to-air from 17:55 on San Marino RTV Sport and live on radio on TITANI.TV.

N	PLAYER	POSITION	BORN	CLUB	CAPS	GOALS
1	SIMONCINI ALDO	Goalkeeper	30/08/1986	Cosmos	63	-
12	BENEDETTINI SIMONE	Goalkeeper	21/01/1997	Pennarossa	8	-
23	BENEDETTINI ELIA	Goalkeeper	22/06/1995	Cailungo	39	-
11	BATTISTINI MANUEL	Defender	22/07/1994	Virtus	42	-
5	CEVOLI MICHELE	Defender	22/07/1998	Juvenes-Dogana	15	-
2	D'ADDARIO ALESSANDRO	Defender	09/09/1997	Cosmos	22	-
13	DI MAIO ROBERTO	Defender	21/09/1982	Cosmos	1	-
22	FABBRI FILIPPO	Defender	07/01/2002	Olbia	17	1
18	FRANCIOSI SIMONE	Defender	03/09/2001	Valfoglia	2	-
6	ROSSI DANTE CARLOS	Defender	12/07/1987	Tropical Coriano	21	-
15	TOSI ALESSANDRO	Defender	28/04/2001	Victor San Marino	5	-
8	BATTISTINI MICHAEL	Midfielder	08/10/1996	Tre Penne	19	-
19	CAPICCHIONI LORENZO	Midfielder	19/01/2002	Cosmos	3	-
4	CECCAROLI LUCA	Midfielder	05/07/1995	Tre Penne	15	-
17	GOLINUCCI ALESSANDRO	Midfielder	10/10/1994	Virtus	38	-
14	LAZZARI LORENZO	Midfielder	06/06/2003	Victor San Marino	3	1
21	LUNADEI LORENZO	Midfielder	12/07/1997	La Fiorita	30
3	ZAFFERANI TOMMASO	Midfielder	19/02/1996	La Fiorita	18	-
10	BERARDI FILIPPO	Forward	18/05/1997	Sammaurese	22	1
20	HIRSCH JOSÉ ADOLFO	Forward	31/01/1986	Fiorentino	58	-
9	NANNI NICOLA	Forward	02/05/2000	Olbia	28	1
16	RINALDI DANILO	Forward	18/04/1986	La Fiorita	49	1
7	VITAIOLI MATTEO	Forward	27/10/1989	La Fiorita	81	1

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