Kick-off: 1700, 14/07/2022
Stadium: Manchester City Academy
TV: BBC
Italy made the worst possible start to UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and will be determined to make amends when they meet Iceland.
The Azzurre conceded five first-half goals as they were thrashed by France and are bottom of Group D after Iceland drew 1-1 with Belgium.
They are better than that slow start suggests, though, and an Italian win at 2.05 is our opening Italy Women vs Iceland Women prediction.
Italy Women Odds
Italy must have got their hopes up when they had the first opportunity of the game against France in the opening minutes as Cristiana Girelli’s headed pass sent Barbara Bonansea through one-on-one but her effort was superbly saved by Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
That was a rare attack and the floodgates opened after Grace Geyoro gave France the lead and she completed a first-half hat-trick in a one-sided first half.
To their credit, Italy came out fighting after the break and actually won the second half thanks to Martina Piemonte’s consolation goal in a 5-1 defeat, with Italy having 12 shots to France’s 16.
Head coach Milena Bertolini said: “I did not expect to be trailing 5-0 at the break. We prepared the game different to how it panned out, I think the miss from Barbara actually got our hopes up that we could compete on a even footing and we can’t do that against France.
“There are a number of positives to emerge from this evening. We’ll go again with the attitude the girls showed after the break, because it’s not easy to go into the second half 5-0 down, but we were in danger of having a big debacle.
“It’s a defeat that can teach us a lot of things and we can learn from this.”
Italy have reason for optimism here given they are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Iceland.
Their two wins in that time were both by one goal and the same outcome again can be backed at 3.75 in the Italy Women vs Iceland Women odds.
Iceland Women Odds
Iceland may live to regret not clinching all three points in their 1-1 draw with Belgium when they outshot their opponents 21-11.
Berglind Thorvaldsdottir missed a penalty in the first half but made amends with the opening goal early in the second half, only for Belgium to equalise with a spot-kick of their own.
These two teams played two friendlies in Florence last April with Italy winning the first game 1-0 before a 1-1 draw in the second match.
That also points towards a close encounter here and a 2-1 win for the Azzurre at 8.75 completes our Italy Women vs Iceland Women betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
France 5-1 ITALY – Piemonte
Belgium 1-1 ICELAND – Thorvaldsdottir
Head-to-head: Italy 1-1 Iceland, Italy 1-0 Iceland, Italy 2-1 Iceland, Italy 0-0 Iceland
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