Scamacca put PlayStation away and began scoring. Now recreation time might come as Italy heart ahead
ROME — The message was clear from Italy coach Luciano Spalletti: Put your PlayStation away and begin focusing extra on scoring objectives.
The outcomes have been wondrous for Gianluca Scamacca, who has scored 9 objectives in 11 matches for Atalanta since Spalletti dropped him from the Azzurri squad in March for his online game obsession.
“If somebody desires to waste their time, that’s their alternative. However then don’t come on my nationwide group,” Spalletti stated, noting how a number of gamers had been up all night time earlier than a decisive European Championship qualifying match towards Ukraine in November. The Azzurri drew 0-0 — simply sufficient to qualify.
“It could have been the identical factor in the event that they had been watching a TV collection. It’s an dependancy and it’s not good for sleeping, medical doctors say,” Spalletti added.
Now Scamacca is able to fill Italy’s gaping gap at heart ahead simply in time for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Ciro Motionless has been Italy’s go-to man at heart ahead for years however has by no means carried out as nicely with the nationwide group as he has at Lazio and, at 34, is more likely to have his finest years behind him.
The disaster at heart ahead grew so extreme that earlier Italy coach Roberto Mancini recruited Argentine-born striker Mateo Retegui to hitch the Azzurri. And Retegui has carried out admirably with 4 objectives in six matches.
Scamacca has only one objective — scored towards England — in 15 matches with Italy. However over the previous two months he’s developed into a brand new participant, lastly realizing the potential that has hovered over him ever since he got here up by Lazio and Roma’s youth techniques.
He’s a participant who’s bodily and technically full, able to blasting highly effective pictures on the objective whereas standing nonetheless with each toes or pulling off leaping, acrobatic efforts.
His abilities have been on full show just lately with a brace in Atalanta’s 3-0 win at Liverpool within the Europa League quarterfinals, a objective and an help to assist overturn a first-leg deficit towards Fiorentina within the Italian Cup semifinals, and the opening objective in a 1-1 draw at Marseille on Thursday within the first leg of the Europa League semifinals.
“He was distinctive towards us — actually, actually good. He was troublesome to play towards,” Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp stated. “He was nice within the air and nice on the ground. I didn’t know him too nicely when he got here to West Ham. It didn’t work out nicely 100% there, however it may occur as a result of the Premier League is a troublesome league to play. You’ll be able to see he has nice high quality.
“However for a particular means of play, I feel he’s a unbelievable possibility. A extremely targeted participant who can convey the ball down and provides time to push up. He’s a risk within the field. It’s a extremely fascinating package deal,” Klopp added.
Italy hasn’t had a real heart ahead since maybe the times of Christian Vieri, Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino.
So if Scamacca can produce from the No. 9 place, he’ll present a reference level for the likes of fellow forwards Federico Chiesa, Giacomo Raspadori and Nicolò Zaniolo
Atalanta is a group that often depends on growing home-grown expertise or buying younger foreigners with hidden potential on a budget. However the Bergamo squad spent 25 million euros ($27 million) to convey Scamacca again to Italy from West Ham, the place he scored solely three objectives in 16 Premier League matches and had his season lower quick by a knee damage.
However Scamacca did excel with West Ham within the Europa Convention League, and he now has six objectives on this season’s Europa League — demonstrating an affinity for continental play — which might additionally bode nicely for the Euros, the place Italy is in a bunch with Spain, Croatia and Albania.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer
