ROME,March 22:When Italy and England kick off their European Championship qualifying campaign against each other on Thursday, some of the spotlight will be on a player from Argentina.
Forward Mateo Retegui has been called up for the first time by Italy coach Roberto Mancini, reigniting a debate in the country about selecting foreign-born players for the national team.
Retegui was born in Argentina and has spent his entire playing career in the South American country, representing it internationally at Under-19 and Under-20 level. But he has never played for the senior national team and has Italian citizenship through his maternal grandmother.
Instead of opting to wait for his chance to play for the World Cup winners, the 23-year-old Retegui has responded to the call of the Azzurri, who did not even qualify for last year’s tournament.
Retegui plays for Argentine club Tigre, on loan from Boca Juniors, and was the top scorer in the domestic league last season with 19 goals Mancini has a lack of options up front with Ciro Immobile and Giacomo Raspadori out injured, while Gianluca Scamacca is not fully fit. Italy has a long history of including South American players in the national team after they made a name for themselves in Serie A, with the Brazil-born Jorginho a recent example. But Retegui’s inclusion has sparked more debate, in part because he has never played in Italy and in part because Mancini criticized Antonio Conte for using foreign-born players when the Tottenham coach was in charge of Italy.
Mancini, who was then at Inter Milan, said at the time that “the Italian national team should be Italian” and that he didn’t think someone who wasn’t born in the country “deserves to” play for Italy. For England, this will be the first match since losing to France in the World Cup quarterfinals, and provides a chance for striker Harry Kane to become England’s all-time record goal scorer. Kane is currently level with Wayne Rooney on 53 goals for his country. England is without Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford after the forward pulled out of the squad with what the club described as a “knock” but Southgate has called up Ivan Toney despite the Brentford forward facing a possible suspension for apparently breaching multiple gambling rules.
Italy’s last home match was also against England, with the Azzurri winning 1-0 at San Siro in September in the Nations League.
Mancini’s team also beat England on penalties in the Euro 2020 final. That triumph was a sort of absolution for Italy after it failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. PTI)
