Mangia not carried away by early progress
Saturday, June 8, 2013
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Devis Mangia said Italy had done nothing more than meet their own "obligation" by reaching the last four with victory over Israel, whose coach Guy Luzon remained defiant.
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Devis Mangia, Italy coach
We were clever enough to make this game easy. For Italy sometimes it's easier to face a team like England than one like Israel. Tonight our players scored when they needed to and they made sure the game didn't become dangerous.
[Against Norway] I am not sure if there will be changes to the team. We know what the situation is but we won't dwell on permutations. I have 23 excellent players so to avoid risks sometimes we field other players. We don't feel like favourites after qualifying for the semi-final; we felt an obligation to reach at least this stage. Now we are here and I'm not sure who will qualify from the other group. At this stage I'm not sure who I would be happier to meet – Spain, Germany or the Netherlands.
We have always had the motivation of 23 players and all the staff – we don't want to distinguish between them. They are all the same and we feel united. [Ciro] Immobile played a fantastic game today. It's not that I have a special sympathy for him but he has always lined up from the first minute in all my games. Maybe today was his best yet.
At first check, Lorenzo Insigne seems to have no fracture and the injury might not be as bad as we first thought.
Guy Luzon, Israel coach
I'm very proud of my team. We played great football until we got the red card. Israel can't play against Italy with ten players. I have no complaints with my players – each and every one of them gave 100% on the pitch. In football you need to make sure your team plays to their maximum all the time and the Italian team is better than us.
We finished the game with ten players and we were playing against Italy. I know that my players did the best that they can. I told my players that I'm very proud of them.
Regarding England, we will do our best as it's an important match and you will see the Israeli team play to their maximum. Now you can see why it was so important for us to score two goals and get a point against Norway.