Ventura aims to entertain as new Italy coach

Milan : New Italy coach Giampiero Ventura pledged to continue the good work of his predecessor Antonio Conte and "entertain" fans on their way to securing a place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Ventura was on Tuesday unveiled as the successor to Conte, who led Italy to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 before taking over at Premier League giants Chelsea, and is now tasked with steering Italy through a qualifying Group G that notably includes Spain.

A respected tactician, Ventura comes to the post following a five-year spell with Torino and his first game in charge is a friendly against beaten Euro 2016 finalists France in Bari on September 1.

After that, Italy begin a four-game autumn stretch of their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign -- only one of which is at home, against Spain on October 6. The others are away at Israel, Macedonia and Liechtenstein.

Ventura said he hopes to continue the work of Conte, who against all odds led Italy to the brink of the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

And the 68-year-old hopes his brand of football is just as entertaining.

"When your game is already well organised, you can only improve on the small details," saidVentura.

"In little time, he (Conte) did immensely well. I hope that is something that stays with us, so I hope to do really well. I will try to play entertaining football as well."

Although Ventura voiced doubts on the international futures of troubled striker Mario Balotelli and Graziano Pelle, who has just moved to China, he said the 23 players Conte took to France will remain Italy's bedrock.

But he will also gauge up and coming younger players who failed to make the cut for Euro 2016, including AC Milan midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura, Domenico Berardi, poised for a move to Juventus from Sassuolo, and AC Milan's 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

He added: "Our primary aim is to qualify for the World Cup. We have a lot of up and coming players and I want to bring them through, but we have to be patient and do so gradually."