What Spalletti wants to see in Italy's tour of the United States against Venezuela and Ecuador

Interview conducted by La Gazzetta dello Sport Luciano Spalletti It was filmed and commented on last February 24, but in the chaos of the end of the season, with the Champions League decided and the Italian teams still at stake, it was ultimately little looked at.

We have always seen the national team coach as the head of the sporting republic, almost a representative figure, who, with the selection of the best players, also had to promote positive values. At most, some former coaches had complained about the club's policy of selecting players with the most appearances in the tournament or about some specific players who violated the rules, but no one had ever so harshly criticized their group, trying to move them. Who founded them?

Phrases like “You come to the national team to win European Championships, not Call of Duty,” “or also”“Some of the players must have believed that Spalletti barks and then doesn't have any teeth.” They showed the discomfort Spalletti carries with him over what he saw in training camp in recent months that he needs to reverse.

H Spalletti has teeth and shows them without fear. Just a small example looking at these calls. If you go to watch the end of the match that gave us the European Championship against Ukraine, the referee blows the final whistle, and Spalletti does not celebrate but runs onto the field to have a bad talk with Scamaka, who is guilty of playing poorly and without listening to the coach's instructions in the minutes given to him.

Today, when Scamacca is Italy's fittest striker, the Nerazzurri No.9 will not take part in the American tour. This is a clear message not only to the footballer but to the whole group: Spalletti walks like a train, something he has always done in his career where he has had to endure senseless hate campaigns, and anyone who does not want to get on is asked to get on. Stay grounded.

Precisely for this reason, the “US” friendlies against Venezuela and Ecuador are not spring picnics, but a kind of spring break for tanning in Florida and going shopping in New York. on the contrary This tour, which will take place in such attractive places for young people, will help the coach understand who is “on the ball”.As he himself announced in the same interview in February.

Not being defeated by external temptations, opportunities and stimuli, but continuing to focus on two important matches to strengthen the group, but also understanding who can really have a chance in the European Championships, will help the coach to definitively clarify his ideas, including tactics. .

It will be a tour to follow in the tour, To also try to understand, among the veiled or very clear messages from the coach, why the selections in the May squad will go in one direct direction. It won't be a remake of “Holidays in America.”Because we don't have generational or first-class champions other than four or five safe players, so it will be a good test to make Spalletti understand what he has in hand, especially from a human point of view. He will choose what is suitable for his idea and will cook it from May onwards, without hesitation or campaigning for anyone.