Tampere (Finland): Jorginho fired Italy to within touching distance of Euro 2020 with a spot-kick winner that beat nearest rivals Finland 2-1 on Sunday and maintained his side’s perfect qualifying record.
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho’s 79th-minute penalty in Tampere made it six wins from six for Roberto Mancini’s side and sent them six points clear of the second-placed Finns in Group J, after in-form Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki had levelled Ciro Immobile’s headed opener with a penalty of his own six minutes before.
With two teams qualifying from the group, four-time world champions Italy are flying high with a maximum 18 points with four qualifying games to play, nine points ahead of third-placed Armenia despite their thrilling 4-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier Sunday.
They could now secure qualification for the tournament, which kicks off in Rome next June, against Greece or Liechtenstein — who surprisingly drew in Athens — next month.
“The match against Greece could be the one that secures qualification and we hope the Stadio Olimpico will be as full as during the 1990 World Cup when we were young,” said Italy coach Roberto Mancini.
Former Italy international Mancini took over last year after the Azzurri’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“There was a bit of suffering, but we dominated the game,” he added.
“The lads did very well overall, although we had a few scares when it was 1-1. But there were so many things that I liked, dominating away from home every time is very positive and even the substitutes did very well, having more players to choose I think is fundamental.”
“Our nature is to always attack, you could see that tonight, giving very little to our rivals,” he said.
Finland — bidding to qualify for the European Championship for the first time — have lost both their matches to the Italians after also falling 2-0 in Udine last March.
Italy next play Greece October 12 in Rome.
AFP