For Matteo Cichella, the next Italy Under-21 fixture carries the feel of a homecoming as well as a major step in his career. The Frosinone midfielder has been called up for the final two European Championship qualifying matches and could take the field close to the part of Abruzzo where his family summers were spent.
Key takeaways
- Cichella is among five Frosinone players selected by Baldini for Italy Under-21’s remaining Euro qualifying games.
- Italy will face Poland at Pescara’s Stadio Adriatico on 5 October in a match likely to be crucial to direct qualification.
- The midfielder’s father was born in Silvi, just 17 kilometres from the stadium.
- Cichella says Frosinone’s young, close-knit squad helped the club adjust to Serie A.
- Raised in Roma’s academy, he names Daniele De Rossi as his childhood footballing idol.
A call-up with local meaning
Cichella spoke of football as the thread running through his life from its earliest days. His first present was a ball, while his father and uncle took him around stadiums as a child. That family routine made a professional career seem like the natural dream.
The Pescara meeting with Poland now gives that story a particularly personal setting. With Silvi so close to the Adriatico, Cichella described the prospect of playing near the place where he spent every summer while growing up as something special.
He said he had waited a long time for this Under-21 opportunity and was proud that it had arrived during the current campaign. The national side have welcomed him immediately, he added, and his intention is to make the most of every training session by learning from the players around him.
Frosinone’s rise and the ambitions ahead
Cichella came through the youth system at Roma before continuing his development at Frosinone. He reflected on the previous season as one filled with remarkable emotions, crediting a youthful and united dressing room for creating a healthy atmosphere around the club.
Serie A, he acknowledged, presents a different test: the settings are bigger, the stadiums change and the standard of opponent rises sharply. Yet he believes Frosinone have adapted well, with their opening league performances offering evidence of that progress.
He also drew a connection between Italy Under-21 coach Baldini and Frosinone coach Alvini. Beyond their football ideas, Cichella sees them as similar characters: straightforward figures who speak honestly to their players. In his view, that clarity is an important value for a young footballer.
Roma remains part of his longer-term imagination. Cichella said De Rossi was his idol when he was young, both because of the role he played and the attachment he showed to the Roma shirt. For a player raised at the club, he suggested, De Rossi and Francesco Totti were the unavoidable reference points.
His broader target is to wear the senior Italy shirt one day. For now, the Under-21 call-up represents a significant milestone, while Nicolò Barella is the player he studies most closely because of the similarities in position and characteristics. Cichella describes himself more as a box-to-box midfielder, and his message to the younger version of himself is one of patience: progress comes gradually, through work and the willingness to face each new challenge.
