Manuela Giugliano rocked the Drusus Stadium with the 2-0. © DLife/LO

Via Bolzano to the European Championship: Italy celebrates against Finland

On Tuesday evening, in front of 2.700 spectators in the Drusus Stadium in Bolzano, the game was about nothing less than qualifying for the European Women's Championship. In the end, the Azzurre won by a landslide against Finland and secured their ticket to the European Championship as group winners.

July 16, 2024

From: do

The best female footballers from Italy and Finland met at the FC Südtirol stadium and played for a ticket to the major international event, which will take place in Switzerland in July 2025. After their convincing performance against the footballers from the far north, the Azzurre can now plan their trip to their neighboring country with certainty. The Italians won the last match of Group 1 4-0 and thus qualified for the European Championship. Since the Netherlands only played 1-1 against Norway at the same time, the Azzurre also won the group (better goal difference).

The situation was clear before the game: if Italy beat Finland, qualification would be set in stone. The Azzurre were accordingly committed on South Tyrolean soil, with neither Katia Schroffenegger (Karneid/on the bench) nor Eva Schatzer (Vahrn/not in the squad) in the starting line-up. The Azzurre continually shifted the game into the Finnish half and tried to take the deserved lead. Only a mistake by central defender Elena Linari, which allowed Ria Oling to run alone towards the goal and almost score, prevented the Azzurre from completely dominating the first half.

The confident performance was accompanied by two goals. First, Chiara Beccari (20th) scored with a header for the first time in the national team's jersey, then Manuela Giugliano took advantage of several uncertainties in the Finnish back line and scored the 2-0 goal (31st). These two goals gave the Italians a certain degree of security with regard to the table. After the second half had started somewhat leisurely, the Italians nevertheless increased the speed again in the last quarter of an hour.

A light blue goal firework

The class of Andrea Soncin's players was enough to control Finland and score two more goals. Michela Cambiaghi (74th) made it 3-0 with a great shot from the left of the penalty area and an own goal by Eva Nystrom to make it 4-0 (88th) guaranteed the win and participation in the European Championship.

Italy – Finland 4:0

Italy: Giuliani, Di Guglielmo, Linari, Salvai, Lenzini, Greggi, Caruso (from 78. Severini), Giugliano (from 65. Dragoni), Beccari (from 53. Cambiaghi), Giacinti (from 65. Cantore), Bonansea (from 65. Bergamschi)

Finland:Tamminen, Sevenius (from 46. Hartikainen), Emmi Siren, Nyström, Kuikka, Koivisto (from 24. OOna Siren), Lindström (from 46. Sällström), Summanen (from 80. Kollanen), Öling, Alanen (from 57. Ahtinen), Rantala

SR: Ivana Prjkovska (MKD)

Gates: 1-0 Beccari (20th), 2-0 Giugliano (31st), 3-0 Cambiaghi (74th), 4-0 own goal Nystrom (88th)

Viewers: 2.700

European Championship Qualifiers, Group 1