Youthful Italy side edge Greece to make it two wins from two

[p]Caretaker boss Silvio Baldini raised eyebrows when he called up [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/hlKvieGH/"]Italy[/a]’s youngest – and certainly most inexperienced – squad in over a century, and the side with just three prior call-ups performed just about as expected in a narrow win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/luxembourg/2cnFSaNj/"]Luxembourg[/a].[/p][p]And after a promising start, particularly from the likes of debutant [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ekhator-jeff/QopKhlIm/"]Jeff Ekhator[/a], it was one of those former full internationals who drew first blood.[/p][p][b]Naturally, it was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/genoa/d0PJxeie/"]Genoa[/a] youngster Ekhator who provided the assist, finding [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/esposito-francesco/dKXxEOKj/"]Francesco Pio Esposito[/a], who poked into the bottom corner from the edge of the area via a deflection for his fifth international goal in just his ninth cap.[/b][/p][p]Any improvement from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/greece/COuk57Ci/"]Greece[/a] – who will also be watching this summer’s tournament from home – was muted, and Italy continued to press with Esposito testing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vlachodimos-odisseas/2slo0WN2/"]Odysseas Vlachodimos[/a].[/p][embed guid="460d8e6b-a6a8-44bb-94de-717a9d24728b" url="https://x.com/Azzurri_En/status/2063711005926998346" social-type="twitter" /][p]The second half wasn’t much better, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/koleosho-luca/pnm2Br3R/"]Luca Koleosho[/a] coming in at the far post to touch [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fini-seydou/hzTcOuoN/"]Seydou Fini[/a]’s cross onto the bar.[/p][p]The game reached something of a stalemate after that, and when the hosts did have an opening, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/douvikas-anastasios/YgPGkQYi/"]Tasos Douvikas[/a] was hauled down by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/reggiani-luca/pU5DsjJd/"]Luca Reggiani[/a] when about to race through, resulting in a red card for the 18-year-old defender just 13 minutes into his international debut.[/p][p]It was easy to see why Greece had found the net in just one of their last four matches, as they continued to find things difficult despite the personnel advantage.[/p][p]The efforts of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tzolis-christos/484Acu9H/"]Christos Tzolis[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zafeiris-christos/rgpJzJcp/"]Christos Zafeiris[/a] to make a difference were in vain, especially that of the latter, who rocketed against the upright with just over five minutes remaining.[/p][p]The Galanolefki were ultimately only able to trouble [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/donnarumma-gianluigi/WScbdXmL/"]Gianluigi Donnarumma[/a] in the final moments – to no avail – and the Heraklion crowd was left wondering what was next for the Euro 2004 champions.[/p][p]This was always set to be a gloomy international break for Italy, who were still haunted by March’s defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bosnia-herzegovina/fqe7WYTr/"]Bosnia[/a] & Herzegovina, but they can at least have faith that the next generation is in good shape.[/p][p]No win in five paints a bleaker picture for Greece, who will be 14 years on from their last major tournament appearance by the time Euro 2028 comes around.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/comuzzo-pietro/xfB3Fqzl/"]Pietro Comuzzo[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/hlKvieGH/"]Italy[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/greece-COuk57Ci/italy-hlKvieGH/?mid=C8MJJXIs"]Click here for more on the match[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Player ratings" id="f9bada95-3ec4-403b-ae7d-b7dcdadd236c" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="334a1878-acfc-4e9a-a1ae-f476f39c1de7" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /]