How Italy's perfect blend is allowing their dreams to run wild at Euro 2025

New York Times

6 days ago

There's a saying in Italian: I sogni non sono nei cassetti perche ci stanno stretti. It translates as: Dreams are not kept in drawers because they are too tight.
That much was certain last Tuesday as Italy defeated Norway 2-1 in a Women's European Championship quarter-final to reach their first tournament semi-final since 1997, allowing their deepest wishes to run wild and free.
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'We all dreamt together,' said midfielder Annamaria Serturini ahead of the quarter-final match. 'We all dreamt because, in the end, everyone dreamt for a long time. We have reached our great goal, and we do not want to stop. We want to continue dreaming, and making Italians dream.'
With reigning European champions England next today (Tuesday), Italy are dreaming hard. But, as Serturini says, many of these players have also been dreaming for a long time.
Of the 16 teams at this tournament, Italy's average squad age was the fourth-oldest (28.34 years), behind those of Sweden, Portugal and Wales. Comparatively, the other three sides still standing in Switzerland rank between eighth- (England, 26.93) and 10th-oldest (Spain and Germany are level at 26.33).
Excluding the last two quarter-finals, of the 52 line-ups put forth by various teams at Euro 2025, Italy have fielded four of the 15 oldest sides (Sweden, Portugal, Wales and the Netherlands sent out the other 11 between them).
Striker Cristiana Girelli, who got both goals in that win against Norway, is this tournament's fourth-oldest scorer at 35 years old, behind Wales' Jess Fishlock (38), Janice Cayman of Belgium (36) and Sweden's Kosovare Asllani (who is also 35 but around nine months older than Girelli).
Also, of Italy's six most-used players in these finals so far, four are in their thirties: Girelli (298 minutes), goalkeeper Laura Giuliani (32 years old; 360), forward Elena Linari (31; also 360) and defender Cecilia Salvai (31; 347).
Before we go any further: no, this is not a piece focusing solely on the age of Italy's squad. But one of their main problem areas for the Itailans after getting to previous tournaments was a perceived lack of pace and energy; they were a talented team bogged down by immobility.
In the past two years, though, they have looked sharper, more energetic, despite still being bookended in goal and up front by two of the three oldest players in the squad in Giuliani and Girelli. The key has been the gradual introduction of a new generation around the experienced core to supplement their talents with pace and vivacity.
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Specifically in midfield and along the flanks, Italy have looked much more lively in their displays. Full-backs Lucia Di Guglielmo and Elisabetta Oliviero are both 28 and have had good tournaments, while a midfield of Manuela Giugliano (27), Arianna Caruso (25) and Emma Severini (22) outworked and outplayed Norway last week.
Even more beneficial have been the performances from Sofia Cantore up front.
The 25-year-old forward, who joined NWSL side Washington Spirit from Juventus last month, assisted both goals against Norway. In Girelli, Italy have a very good penalty-box player — her one-touch close-range finish for the opener in that quarter-final and 90th-minute headed clincher are cases in point — but Cantore provides the zeal and creativity that allows her team-mate to focus on occupying those areas in the opposition box.
Girelli's two goals that night were emblematic of Italy since the September 2023 appointment of head coach Andrea Soncin, who has shifted the team's look with this modest generational change.
In fact, of the starting XI against Norway, six — Barbara Bonansea, Giuliani, Girelli, Salvai, Giugliano and Linari — all made their national-team debuts between 2012 and 2014. The rest — Di Guglielmo, Oliviero, Caruso, Severini and Cantore — made theirs between 2019 and 2024.
Many of Italy's big moments have stemmed from the older players in their thirties, the ones who have endured big games, big dreams and big heartbreak in the past as a collective, while more recently introduced 'additions' enter the pool as players come of age.
Calling these players 'young' would be disingenuous. Only Severini is under 24 years old. Yet, there is something abnormal about this blend.
International teams are generally spaced by four years, with youth teams graduating together, contending for some time, then being replaced via gradual onboarding of their successors. In this way, sides take on the look of a quilt: kiddos, prime players and veterans stitched together and all scoring and playing. England at this tournament are a good example of this, with their quarter-final goalscorers Lucy Bronze (33) and Michelle Agyemang (22) having 14 years and three months between their respective birth dates.
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Italy's chemistry is more two-dimensional than three.
Soncin has found success in this method. His tenure began with a 2023-24 Nations League campaign in which Italy finished second in their group behind Spain but recorded a historic 3-2 away win against the world champions, leading to some of the optimism currently surrounding the squad. That sense of positivity was further built during Euro qualifying earlier this year, as Italy finished top of their group ahead of the Netherlands, who won the competition in 2017.
Tonight against England, Italy will doubtless be underdogs, as they were in the previous round.
Norway were disorganised last week and allowed Soncin's midfielders to move without much pressure. The English should be stronger in this aspect of the game — but Italy have surprised many in the past two years to reach this historic point, and that is arguably because of the slow but purposeful blend the 46-year-old coach has managed to nurture.
Calling it a revolution (or even an evolution) is arguably a step too far. Rather, it's a slow reawakening, a reformation, nailing Italy's dreams to the front door of this tournament.