Eder goal repays Conte’s as Italy reach last 16

Italy’s forward Citadin Martins Eder celebrates a goal during the Euro 2016 group E football match between Italy and Sweden at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse on June 17, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Pascal PAVANI

Italy agonized over whether Brazilian-born Eder should get a place in their Euro 2016 squad, but coach Antonio Conte’s faith was repaid with the goal that sank Sweden 1-0 on Friday.

After what defender Giorgio Chiellini called a “brutal” first half, Italy came alive in the second period to secure their place in the last 16 from Group E.

Conte spent most of the game ranting and raving at his players as they struggled to break down a tough Swedish defence.

Midfielder Marco Parolo sent his header off post and crossbar in the final minutes, and Conte then joined in exuberant celebrations after Eder collected Simone Zaza’s header to run in and beat Andreas Eriksson at his far post.

Eder got a squad place on the back of strong performances for Sampdoria last season and a great-grandfather, Battista Righetto, who came from the Veneto region.

His addition to Conte’s squad prompted sparked debate in Italy. Eder performed badly after joining Inter Milan in January and towards the end of their qualifying campaign.

But Conte, who picked up the pieces following Italy’s first-round exit at the 2014 World Cup, quickly came to Eder’s defence.

“It wasn’t just him, plenty of other players also had doubts hanging over them in terms of their selection,” Conte said.

“But I want to choose the right men as well as the right players, no matter who they play for.

“I choose those who can give a big helping hand to the national team and Eder was decisive for us during our qualifying campaign, scoring against Bulgaria to earn us a draw there.”

Eder admitted he had been off the boil towards the end of the season. But ironically, that has been to Italy’s benefit.

“This is what we’ve been working so hard for in training since last month. You could see that by our goal, the way we moved, that we practised that with the coach,” he said.

“I’m delighted for the team, and I’m very happy the coach has kept faith with me.

“I think it helped me I wasn’t playing for Inter a lot at the end of the season. That helped me to save some energy for this championship and also allowed me to work a lot on my fitness.”

Italy face the Republic of Ireland in their final group match in Lille next week. With qualification in the bag Conte can rest players and give others — such as Napoli winger Lorenzo Insigne — a run out.

“It’s fantastic,” added Conte. “Now we can get to work, give a bit of playing time to the ones who have also been working hard in training.

“We’ve also achieved an objective that a lot of people doubted.”

The only thing missing for Conte, who will join Chelsea later this summer, was the comparative lack lack of Italian support at the Stadium de Toulouse.

Italy were vastly outnumbered by the yellow-clad Swedish fans, whose lively songs resonated around the stadium.

He added: “I think our fans will be happy, especially the ones in Italy. In our games I’d like our fans to put on the blue jersey, it would give a good image.

“Seeing the others all together with their yellow jerseys was beautiful. Today we had around nine thousand fans here, but they were spread all over the stadium.”