OBERENTFELDEN, Switzerland :Italy are putting the euphoria of making the knockout stages of the Women’s Euros for the first time since 2013 to one side and aiming for even greater heights when they take on Norway in the quarter-finals in Geneva on Wednesday.
The Italians lost their final Group B game to Spain but managed to go through in second place thanks to a 1-0 win over Belgium and a 1-1 draw with Portugal to set up a meeting with the Norwegians, who won Group A with three wins out of three.
“The fact that we qualified in the quarter-finals gave us a lot of positive energy, (but) we immediately got back to work and we are preparing the game as we have prepared the others, taking care of every detail,” Italy forward Sofia Cantore told reporters on Monday.
“Once you reach a small goal like this, you think about doing your best to reach another, so let’s say there is maximum concentration for the next game and, beyond tactics, I think we should put in everything we have in our hearts.”
After making it to the last four in six of the first seven Women’s Euro competitions, Italy have struggled to reach those heights since.
“They (Norway) are a great team, they have very important personalities, and it will be important to be perfect tactically and then to hurt them where they will give us the space to hurt them,” Cantore said.
“We have already shown during the whole competition … we have character as a team. It’s important to show our character in these games, I think we have a lot of it and we’ll show it,” she added.
