Pride and pain spur Motta onward
Friday, June 5, 2009
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Captain Marco Motta believes Italy have "enormous potential" and is determined to avenge a 2007 loss to Serbia in their UEFA European U21 Championship opener on 16 June. "It still hurts," said the AS Roma man.
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Captain Marco Motta believes Italy have "enormous potential" as the Azzurrini finalise their preparations for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Sweden.
Serie A sharpness
"I'm certain that we are a very good team," said the right-back, who spent the first part of the season at Udinese Calcio and the second at AS Roma. "We are more mature than ever because most of the players have been getting first-team games at their clubs. This is a key factor in becoming a winning team at this level. We have enormous potential and I'm proud to be the captain."
Serbia first
By far the most successful nation in the competition, with five victories in the nine most recent U21 championships, Pierluigi Casiraghi's side will meet Sweden, Belarus and Serbia in Group A. First up is a 16 June meeting with Serbia, who beat Italy 1-0 in their first game of what proved to be a disappointing 2007 finals campaign.
'It still hurts'
"We have to make amends for that defeat against Serbia because it still hurts," Motta, 23, said. "This time around we have to start on the right foot. We are Italy and we always have to try to win every game we play. This must be our main strength in the tournament. There are two years of hard work at stake and we don't want to waste them as we did two years ago."
