Under-21 dives into the first European double-header: opener away to Finland

The Under-21 national team is embarking on a new European cycle, the qualifying campaign that will lead up to Albania-Serbia 2027. The first assignment is away from home: yesterday afternoon the Biancazzurri delegation landed in Helsinki and immediately moved on towards Turku, the city that tomorrow, at 16:00 CET, will host Finland v San Marino. Generational turnover is part and parcel of youth national teams, including the Under-21s. For this reason too, among Matteo Cecchetti’s call-ups there is a very high percentage of players who could make their official debut tomorrow. Alongside them is a solid representation of the “old guard”, namely those who, having been involved at a very young age in previous cycles, are now called upon to lead a group which, not from today, intends to make freshness and enthusiasm its main strengths. What has not changed is the head coach, still Matteo Cecchetti: “There is definitely emotion for this new beginning, and you can feel it among the lads as well,” the head coach explains. “They are facing this trip with great focus and a real desire to do well. So far we have worked extremely well: I am not referring so much to the very last period, in which we were only able to meet once, but to the weeks leading up to the various pre-seasons with their clubs. The two friendlies against Malta in June, for example, gave us excellent feedback. We know we have a young group, but that was a deliberate choice. The boys who are here with me have shown they possess the right mentality to face this kind of match. We are all ambitious. I hope this two-year cycle will be at least as fruitful as the previous ones in terms of the players’ development. Many of those who have been part of the Under-21s have gone on to make major contributions to the senior national team, and we want that trend to continue. On top of that, we are also chasing positive results on the pitch. We know it is difficult, but we will give it everything. There is one thing in particular I have asked of the lads: courage. I want to see players on the pitch who look their opponents in the eye and cause them problems in every possible way, taking advantage of the chances they give us – or that we are good enough to create ourselves.”

This afternoon the Official Training session will take place at the Veritas Stadion, the venue that tomorrow will host the meeting between the home side and the young Titans. The latter will complete this first double-header by hosting Romania on Tuesday 9 September. Below are the players called up by Matteo Cecchetti for the trip to Finland: