OneFootball
Joel Sanderson-Murray·14 July 2022
OneFootball
Joel Sanderson-Murray·14 July 2022
Italy’s hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds hang by a thread after they drew with Iceland in Manchester.
Scorers: Bergamaschi 61′; Vilhjálmsdóttir 3′.
Iceland made the dream start when they stormed into the lead after just three minutes.
A long throw into the Italian penalty area was not dealt with and the ball fell to Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir who rifled a right-footed half volley into the top corner.
The early goal appeared to stun Milena Bertolini’s side who failed to get going for the rest of the first half, and almost found themselves further behind midway through the second half.
Another set piece failed to be dealt with by the Italian defence and the ball ricocheted into the path of Alexandra Jóhannsdóttir but the midfielder sliced the shot wide from inside the six yard box.
Iceland would go on to pay for that miss as a minute later Italy were level.
Substitute Barbara Bonansea produced some good work on the byline to pull the ball back across goal for another sub, Valentina Bergamaschi, to place into the bottom corner.
That goal woke the Italians up and Bonansea then saw her well-driven shot tipped on to the post by Sandra Sigurðardóttir.
Flaminia Simonetti then flashed a shot just wide of the far post from the edge of the area as they began to apply real pressure on Iceland.
That vital goal wasn’t to come and Italy remain bottom of the group with one point while Iceland sit in second on two points.