{"id":2179,"date":"2026-06-08T14:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T06:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=2179"},"modified":"2026-06-08T14:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T06:03:15","slug":"italy-hold-firm-to-edge-greece-as-youth-movement-offers-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/italy-hold-firm-to-edge-greece-as-youth-movement-offers-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy hold firm to edge Greece as youth movement offers hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-9.png 1000w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-9-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-9-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the lingering pain of a third straight World Cup absence, the &#8216;Azzurra&#8217; ended the campaign on a high with a narrow win and signs of a rebuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Italy brought the curtain down on a season defined by the frustration of missing a third consecutive World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Greece in Sunday&#8217;s international friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the interim stewardship of Silvio Baldini, the Azzurra fielded a heavily experimental side, handing opportunities to several young prospects as the nation looks to rebuild for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The game&#8217;s decisive moment was provided by Pio Esposito. The Inter Milan forward scored the only goal of the match in the 18th minute after being set up by Jeff Ekhator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Italy controlled much of the contest and created the better chances, although they were unable to add a second goal to their tally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The complexion of the match changed in the second half following the dismissal of Luca Reggiani, leading to a tense finish. Greece applied sustained pressure and even struck the woodwork, but failed to find an equaliser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the national team remains in a period of transition, the victory was viewed as an encouraging sign for Italy&#8217;s emerging generation. Their next challenge comes in September against Belgium in the Nations League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite the lingering pain of a third straight World Cu [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179\/revisions\/2181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}