Former Juventus manager Antonio Conte was not too displeased about his Italian national team only managing a 1-1 draw with England in a recent friendly match.
This was seen as highly competitive encounter for both teams given that they needed to win in order to banish the painful memories of the World Cup. Despite being one of the top teams in the world, both England and Italy failed to progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup in Brazil. This led to the appointment of Conte, while England continue to be spearheaded by Roy Hodgson.
The former Liverpool boss did not have a number of his first-team regulars like Raheem Sterling in the team. However, he was giving starts to the likes of Harry Kane, who have been mightily impressive this season. Just ahead of the game, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said that he was studying every aspect of Kane very cleanly and that he may have found a way to stop the Tottenham forward. Kane failed to score in the match, but it was another Tottenham player who scored the important goal for the English – Andros Townsend. Since taking over from Cesare Prandelli, Conte continues to be unbeaten as the Italy manager.
“It’s a shame [to concede the equaliser] because we had a lot of chances against a good England team.Nevertheless, I’m pleased because I got answers from all the players, both the ones that played the full 90 minutes and others, such as Valdifiori, who played only 60.We still need to continue to work hard in order to allow the players to develop and be ready at international level. We need them to gain confidence for them to get even better,” said Conte. After this draw, Italy have a record of just two wins in the last five.