Germany vs. Italy: Date, Time, TV Schedule and Live Stream for 2016 Friendly
Germany and Italy will renew their rivalry in an international friendly on Tuesday as the two titans of European football go head-to-head in Munich.
The world champions blew a two-goal lead in their last friendly, losing 3-2 against England on Saturday, while the Italians held their own against European champions Spain in a 1-1 draw last Thursday.
Here's a look at the TV schedule and live stream info for Tuesday's clash at the Allianz Arena:
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
| Tuesday, March 29 | 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET | Germany vs. Italy | ESPN 2, BT Sport Europe | WatchESPN (U.S.)/BT Sport App (U.K.) |
Preview
Germany and Italy have a rich football history, as the two teams have met regularly in major international tournaments in the past few decades. Incredibly, Die Mannschaft have never beaten the Azzurri in an official meeting, although they have found plenty of success in friendlies.
Both teams enter Tuesday's match with questions surrounding their form, as the Italians didn't look all that convincing during the qualification stage for UEFA Euro 2016―something that's become the norm for the Azzurri―and the Germans have dropped a handful of results since their triumph at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Saturday's loss against England wasn't as bad as the friendly the Germans lost to the United States last year, but manager Joachim Low still voiced his displeasure in an interview with the German Football Association's official website (via Goal's Stefan Coerts):
"We weren't always convincing during our qualifying campaign and we need to learn from that. We have to improve before the Euros in the summer.
We allowed England a lot of chances on Saturday and we didn't build our attacks the way we usually do. We had problems with our build-up game throughout the entire match and consequently didn't create many opportunities of our own.
Our combinations and our movement didn't go as planned. Our organisation and compact positioning was lacking, especially in the second half. We allowed England a crazy amount of space, despite holding a lead. We can't allow that to happen.
"
Italy looked solid in their 1-1 draw against Spain and should have come away with a win. The Azzurri appear to be finding form at the right time, a welcome sight after some struggles during the qualification process for this summer's tournament.
While the team didn't lose any matches, they were troubled by a number of teams in Group H, barely scraping past Malta twice and failing to beat Croatia once. Belgium also cruised to an easy win over Antonio Conte's troops in a friendly in November of last year.
Italy travel to Germany with a squad that features tons of talent despite the absence of Juventus' Andrea Barzagli, who left the team with an injury, and a handful of relatively new faces seem ready to make a major impact. Federico Bernardeschi looks like a possible breakout candidate for this summer, and Lorenzo Insigne continued his hot form against La Roja, via WhoScored.com:
The second-half substitute looked fantastic in limited minutes, and after the match he clarified the issues he previously had with Conte have now been resolved, per ESPN FC's David Amoyal. That's fantastic news for Azzurri fans, and Insigne will have the chance to impress against Germany as well.
Die Mannschaft struggled to find the wide areas against England and consistently looked out of position defensively, particularly in the second half. Bleacher Report's Clark Whitney thinks it's a result of too much experimentation:
Tuesday's meeting is just an international friendly, however, and in all likelihood, both Conte and Low will continue experimenting. The former has a number of players vying for a ticket to France who are likely to see minutes, such as AS Roma's Stephan El Shaarawy and Anderlecht's Stefano Okaka, and the latter desperately needs to sort out his defence.
As long as Jerome Boateng remains injured, the likes of Antonio Rudiger, Jonathan Tah and Shkodran Mustafi will continue to battle for the starting spot alongside Mats Hummels, and the constant reshuffling will have an impact on the team.
Prediction: Germany 1-1 Italy
