France take on the visitors Italy in the round 1 match of UEFA Nations League group stage. The match will be played on Friday, September 6th at Parc des Princes (Paris).
France cannot be satisfied with their performance in Germany. Under Didier Deschamps, "Les Bleus" have reached three finals. First, there was the heartbreaking loss in the final of their home Euro, where pragmatic Portugal won in extra time. However, two years later, the "Roosters" became World Champions—and deservedly so! In Qatar, they were only prevented from defending their title by Messi’s Argentina and Emiliano Martínez, who won the final in a penalty shootout. But between these two successful World Cups, Euro 2020 was almost a disaster. This summer in Germany, France didn’t impress either. They only won twice, against Austria in the group stage and Belgium in the Round of 16—both times benefiting from critical mistakes by their opponents that led to own goals. Eventually, they were knocked out by Spain in the semifinals. Despite this, the result was enough for Deschamps to keep his position as head coach, and now he starts a new cycle.
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Italy were crowned European champions in 2021, and back then, everyone recognized them as the strongest team. But how quickly that was squandered! Just the next autumn, the Italian giant finished behind a less star-studded but well-organized Swiss team in their World Cup qualifying group—thanks in part to Jorginho missing penalties in both matches. Then came the disgrace of missing out on the World Cup for the second time in a row, this time losing a playoff at home to North Macedonia. During Euro qualification, Italy replaced Mancini with Spalletti, lost to England, and only narrowly edged out Ukraine for second place, not without some controversy surrounding the refereeing decisions. Nonetheless, they qualified directly for the Euros. In Germany, they advanced from the group by defeating Albania and snatching a draw against Croatia in the last attack. But they were swiftly eliminated in the Round of 16 by Switzerland, losing 2-0. Still, Luciano Spalletti kept his job as head coach and will aim to show that he has learned from these setbacks.
The "Azzurri" have won only one of their last ten regular-time matches, with five defeats, including the last three encounters. However, it’s worth remembering that after a draw in the 2006 World Cup final, Buffon and company won the penalty shootout, and with it, the title. Everyone expects a confident win for "Les Bleus," with plenty of goals. However, such matches often disappoint in that regard. It’s better to anticipate a pragmatic outcome with "under 2.5 total goals."
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 scored goals.
