For at least the first 45 minutes, Italy thought that they had a foothold in the game as they took on the world's newest no. 1 side - Belgium - in a friendly clash in Brussels. Although Antonio Candreva's early effort had been cancelled out shortly after by a goal from Jan Vertonghen, the Azzurri headed into the dressing room at half-time on seemingly equal terms with the Red Devils.
However, the next half spelled disaster for the visitors, who conceded twice within the space of eight minutes to hand a win to Marc Wilmots's side through goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Michy Batshuayi. The match, which was played to mark the 30th anniversary of the Heysel tragedy, marks only the second time the EURO 2012 finalists have been defeated in a match since Conte took over last September and despite it being just a friendly, expect the fiercely competitive Conte to demand a better result from his men as they prepare to welcome Romania to Bologna's Stadio Renato Dall'Ara this Tuesday.
While some players - such as goalscorer Candreva and Alessandro Florenzi - looked quite bright, others, including in-form strike duo Graziano Pelle and Eder were not as sharp as fans would have expected. On the defensive front, however, more concerns will certainly surround the showings of both Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, with the Bianconeri pair each both at fault for two of Belgium's goals - including Vertonghen's equalizer. And whilst Claudio Marchisio put in a decent shift as the team's playmaker, the absence of Andrea Pirlo - who was not even included in his 28-man squad for these two friendlies - was glaring obvious as the team attempted to chase the match in the second period.
Italy now will take on Romania, a team that, curiously, despite failing to even qualify for last summer's World Cup - let alone the past few since the 1998 edition played in France - nor the EURO 2012 championship were ranked in the top ten (eighth!) as recently as this past June. They have, however, secured their spot at the upcoming EURO tournament next summer and despite falling out of the top ten are still within the top 20 sides in the world, with a 14th-placed spot as per FIFA's November chart.
An solid qualifying campaign saw Tuesday's visitors finish just behind Northern Ireland with 20 points, having won five and drawn the other five in their 10 games. After posting four straight stalemates against Greece, Finland, Northern Ireland, and Hungary, Anghel Iordănescu's side finally got themselves out of their rut by posting a 3-0 win against the Faroe Islands last month and will be hoping to round out 2015 with what would be a highly celebrated win against Italy, who presently sit one spot ahead of them in 13th in the FIFA rankings.
Will Italy bounce back after their loss in Brussels? Or will Romania hand them a second straight loss?
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