Italy coach Antonio Conte has said that he is considering a team without the help of midfielder Andrea Pirlo, but says either way, the team will be ready for the challenges ahead.
The Azzurri travel to Brussels for a friendly on Friday which will see the current top-ranked FIFA team, Belgium host the Italians to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Heysel disaster, before returning to Italy to host Romania in Bologna on November 17.
“Belgium are first in the world rankings, and this match will be proof of the tremendous growth that our team has gone through,” he said in a press conference.
“I chose this type of friendly to test the team and see where we are.
“It will be a difficult and fascinating challenge.”
Sebastian Giovinco and Andrea Pirlo became the first Major League Soccer stars to also feature for the Italian national team, but neither received call-ups to join the current side, and Conte addressed their absences.
“Sebastian is not here because of a sprained knee, otherwise he would be with us,” the coach said in his press conference.
Despite the fact that Pirlo featured only three times during Italy’s qualification campaign, Conte says Pirlo’s absence is due to a lack of recent playing time, as his last game with New York City FC was on October 25.
“My decision not to call up Andrea was expected, because he stopped playing two weeks ago when the MLS season ended.
“For my part, I have great esteem for Pirlo from all points of view, but I have to be cold in my analysis.
“Andrea will be 37-years old and the MLS season does not begin again until March, so time will tell then how he is recovering and playing.
“But I have to start looking around and consider the ‘hypothesis’ that Pirlo will no longer be on the national team.
“If he decided to return to Italy [to play for Inter on loan], I would be very happy because it would give us the chance to see him work,” he added.
“We are not in a position to support individual elements, if we think we can win the European Championship with individuals, then we should just stay home.
“[Marco] Verratti has demonstrated he deserves this shirt, but we are also looking at the Under-21 [Federico] Bernardeschi.
“Since my first press conference as Coach, I’ve said I wanted a team that would make the Italian people proud,” he concluded.
