Italy may have to field their U20 team for tomorrow’s top-of-the-table U21 European Championship qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Pisa as a result of a Covid crisis that has gripped their squad.
The Italians were due to play Iceland in the group last Friday in Reykjavik but lost two key players to positive Covid tests before departure and two more on arrival in the Icelandic capital, with the result that the game was postponed on the order of local authorities.
The Italian party was also placed in quarantine before being allowed to return home and they have since returned three more positive tests among the players.
Ireland’s U21s were actually flying to Italy when that Iceland game was called off and manager Jim Crawford, who has taken over a team from Stephen Kenny that sits top of the group, has been adapting to the shifting sands as best he can.
“The goalposts seem to move all the time. I was told you need to have your teamsheet in four hours before kick-off but I was told half an hour ago that they have up to midnight to name their squad so I am hearing they could be bringing in their U20s.
“I am also hearing that the three who were positive, they might have a couple of close contacts and they’ll move out of the squad. At the minute I don’t know, but that’s out of our control. What we can control is what we do here in the camp.”
Crawford and his staff have been sifting through the Italian U20 squad and piecing clips together of individual players in an effort to educate themselves and the players on the basis that they may be meeting an entirely new outfit at the Garibaldi Stadium.
The two U21 sides played out a 0-0 draw in Tallaght a year ago when the current complications in football and across the wider world were unimaginable. Crawford had been under the impression that squads had to be named 24 hours before kick-off but midnight tonight seems to be the deadline.
Uefa’s protocols say that a game can proceed so long as each squad has 13 players fit and healthy and cleared to play and the Ireland boss has, thankfully, no issues in that department given they have so far been spared the Covid crises that have hit both their opponents and the senior Irish squad.
Other losses have had to be absorbed.
West Bromwich Albion’s Dara O’Shea and Derby County’s Jason Knight have been called up to Kenny’s senior party for the Nations League trip to Helsinki after the loss of so many players this past week to Covid issues and injury.
Crawford has become accustomed to this chain of command in his time in various Irish underage setups and he has expressed his confidence in the quality of player still available to him.
“The seniors is the biggest show in town. If Stephen wants players from the 21s, that’s the way it goes. I’ve no qualms with that. I’d an understanding of that before I took the job. The only thing I can say for certain is that there’s a lot of quality here.
“I’ve no fears with the balance of the team, structure of team. We’ve players capable of going out and putting on a really good performance. You’re right, it’s an unbelievable opportunity for the 21s to qualify for their first-ever finals. We’ve a good group here.”