Roberto Mancini believes that only confidence is needed to turn a mediocre Italy into a world class team again after Jorginho rescued a point for the new-look Azzurri in a 1-1 draw against Poland in their Nations League A Group 3 opener on Friday night.
Jorginho’s penalty 12 minutes from time made amends after the Chelsea midfielder’s blunder had allowed former Napoli teammate Piotr Zielinski’s opener for Poland just before the break in Bologna. Mancini, 58, was appointed after the four-time winners’ shock failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
And after a timid start, key substitutions — including promising Fiorentina forward Federico Chiesa — allowed the former Inter Milan and Manchester City manager to save face in his first competitive game in charge.
“I knew it was going to be difficult. They are a team that, at this moment, have more confidence than us,” said Mancini. “In the first half we made some technical mistakes, but then in the second half the guys were very good.”
Mario Balotelli, making his first competitive appearance since the 2014 World Cup for Italy, had an uneventful night before being replaced after an hour. “Mario needs to play, he is an experienced player on the international stage, but his fitness levels are an issue right now,” explained Mancini of the 28-year-old Nice player.
“There are many young players we can build on and I think we saw that in the second half, as we pushed forward and more importantly didn’t make as many errors in our passing. Chiesa? Like him these are all boys to bet on.”
Italy struggled early in all areas, Zielinski opening 40 minutes in by converting Bayern Munic star Robert Lewandowski’s pass after Jorginho was caught in possession. Mancini brought on Giacomo Bonaventura, 29, in place of Lorenzo Pellegrini, 22, but star Poland striker Lewandowski almost snatched a second goal for the visitors to the thunderous applause of the 4,000 Polish fans.
Andrea Belotti then came on for Balotelli to a mixture of whistles and applause, with Chiesa replacing Lorenzo Insigne after 71 minutes. The newcomers provided the spark that was needed. The son of former international striker Enrico Chiesa, the 20-year-old Fiorentina player forced a save from Lukasz Fabianski and was then brought down by Jakub Blaszczykowski for a penalty, which Jorginho converted.
Italy pushed for the winner but had to settle for a point before their trip to Lisbon where they will be playing a Portugal side missing Cristiano Ronaldo. “We could not find the passing lines, to give rhythm to our play,” said Brazil-born Jorginho.
“I personally made a lot of mistakes. It takes time. We don’t play much together, but I’m confident because I see a team trying to play football. This is important. We are on the right track. If you play with fear you have the possibility to make mistakes.”
“We have no room for error on Monday,” added Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci. “Cristiano Ronaldo is very strong, but his absence shouldn’t deceive us: Portugal are still a very good team, they are the European champions and we will have to give them the maximum respect.”
Poland will play their next matches in the Nations League at home on October 11 against Portugal and on October 14 against Italy. “It’s an important point, it’s just a pity we were unable to make more of our chances,” said coach Jerzy Brzeczek, who took over after Poland crashed out in the group stage of the World Cup.
In other Nations League matches, Artem Dzyuba hit a second-half winner as World Cup quarter-finalists Russia opened their campaign with a 2-1 away win over Turkey on Friday. Bosnia rode their luck before goals from Haris Duljevic and Elvis Saric got their campaign started with a 2-1 win over Northern Ireland yesterday.
Hosts Russia were one of the surprises of the summer’s World Cup, when they came close to booking a place in the last four before exiting the competition 4-3 on penalties to Croatia. Stanislav Cherchesov’s men were intent on taking up where they had left off and the visitors looked well on their way when Valencia winger Denis Cheryshev opened the scoring with a well-struck volley after just 13 minutes.
Serdar Aziz gave Turkey a lifeline when he levelled four minutes before the interval with a fine strike from just inside the area as Russia failed to clear.
But only eight minutes later slack defending saw Yuri Gazinski’s short pass find Dzyuba unmarked on the right side, the captain finishing with calm to stun the hosts. 
Turkey should have levelled in the dying seconds when Hakan Calhanoglu pounced on a fortuitous rebound inside the area but Russia ‘keeper Andrei Lunev did well to get down quick and thwart his low snap shot.
Robert Prosinecki’s Bosnia were under pressure for long periods at Windsor Park, but broke out to snatch the lead through Duljevic late in the first half. Saric doubled Bosnia’s lead in the second half after Michael O’Neill’s team squandered more opportunities to get on the scoresheet.
Will Grigg reduced the deficit in stoppage-time, but Northern Ireland have now won only one of their last eight matches. That disappointing streak includes their painful World Cup play-off defeat against Switzerland, a loss that ended their hopes of a first appearance in the tournament for 32 years.
As they try to make amends for that heartache, the Nations League offers a potential route to the Euro 2020 finals, alongside the traditional qualifying tournament that starts in March 2019. Northern Ireland will also face Austria in Group B3 of the new competition.
The three countries will play each other home and away during September, October and November as they chase promotion to Group A.