Soccer-We have the weapons to beat England, says Italy's Soncin
GENEVA (Reuters) -Italy scraped through the group stage and needed a last-minute goal to beat Norway in the last eight, but coach Andrea Soncin believes his side have what it takes to beat reigning champions England in their Women's Euro 2025 semi-final on Tuesday.
Soncin and his squad have spoken of their big dreams at this tournament and how overcoming adversity has brought them closer together, and they are confident they can beat Sarina Wiegman's side and secure a first appearance in the final since 1997.
"We have done very well in this event. There is a lot of courage, awareness and serenity. That is what has accompanied us throughout the whole event," Soncin told reporters on Monday.
"We are convinced that we have the weapons to win the game, and we have the utmost respect for the quality of the English players and their international experience."
England survived a heart-stopping penalty shootout that saw only five of 14 spot-kicks scored as they beat Sweden 3-2 in their quarter-final, and Soncin said that it was virtually impossible to replicate the pressure of a shootout in training.
"I don't believe that there is a specific way to train the penalties in a training session because there is the emotional aspect and also the physical aspect that come into play, but especially the emotional aspect which is not the same during a training session," he explained.
"Of course we, like everybody, we try to ... also train penalties so that we're ready for everything, our objective is to reach the final."
Soncin and Italy defender Cecilia Salvai, who also attended the media conference, offered their support to England's Jess Carter, who has withdrawn from social media due to the racial abuse she has received during the tournament.
"It is a cultural campaign (against racism), a cultural battle we have to fight all together. I don't know whether taking the knee is enough to change this, but for sure there is maximum solidarity from our side, we are ready to take part in any campaign to avoid this abuse," Soncin said.
"I hope she can play this game 100 percent because this is a semi-final, so I hope she can try to detach a bit from this episode. Of course, she's not the first one who's been victim of this abuse and we have the greatest solidarity for her," Salvai added.
Germany take on Spain in the other semi-final on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Toby Davis)
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