Italy vs Venezuela

Fort Lauderdale’s Chase Stadium hosts a first-ever meeting between Italy and Venezuela.

Italy’s preparations for Euro 2024 in Germany, where they’ll be looking to defend their Euro 2020 title, commence against a Venezuela side they’ve never faced before. But Luciano Spalletti’s team will take the field as odds-on favorites, not least because they’re unbeaten in six of their last seven internationals (W4, D2), including a tepid 0-0 draw against Ukraine on their most travel. Spalletti turned Gli Azzurri’s Euro qualifying fortunes around since replacing Roberto Mancini as head coach, losing just one out of six qualifiers (W3, D2). Before that, the Italians had lost three of their five previous such encounters (W2). Italy will have three debutants in their first clash against South American opposition since a 3-0 demolition to Argentina in the 2022 Finalissima, with Lorenzo Lucca, Michael Folorunsho, and Raoul Bellanova receiving their maiden call-ups.

In the meantime, Venezuela enjoyed an impressive 2023, going unbeaten in nine of their 11 internationals (W5, D4). Both those losses came to Colombia and yielded a single-goal margin, suggesting they will not go down without a fight against the more heavily fancied Italians. Though they’ve never encountered Italy before, the Venezuelans played two European countries in 2022, defeating Malta 1-0 before finishing on the receiving end of the same scoreline against Iceland. Manager Fernando Batista can’t be proud of his side’s recent performances, with La Vinotinto only winning twice in seven matches from September onwards (D3, L2), frustratingly drawing a blank in two of their last three outings.