The story is over. We were so deluded. We are the European Champions, but we have not shown it. Italy misses the first train for the World Cup in Qatar 2022. The 0-0 in Belfast against Northern Ireland forces our national team to play off. They will be played in March, with a new formula. Group of four teams, two finals. Italy comes to us as seeded, but the nightmare is to cross Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and, secondly, Ibra’s Sweden or Lewandowski’s Poland.
In our group Switzerland passes, which easily liquidated Bulgaria (4-0). At a certain point, in Belfast, Mancini’s team would have been enough to score one goal, then they would have needed two: useless counts, the inadequacy shown by Italy was embarrassing. In the general framework of the qualifiers, the two missed penalties by Jorginho, the hero of the European Championship in the two matches against Switzerland, weigh like boulders.
The CT Roberto Mancini, although visibly disappointed, he reacted with a surge of pride: “We will go to the World Cup and then maybe we will win it,” he said after the fool in Belfast. Four years ago the same fate of the play-offs fell to Italy coached by Giampiero Ventura. It was Sweden who killed us, we watched the 2018 World Cup from home.
Cooked blues, perhaps presumptuous, certainly mediocre. What happened to the team that only four months ago won the European Championship? There is no hunger, no stimuli. Bonucci himself admitted it: «After the European Championship something got stuck». In the last 11 games played, the Azzurri have won only 3 within 90 minutes. It is a poor quality national team, without a center forward. Mancini in Belfast opted for a “light trident” with Insigne, Berardi and Chiesa, three winger. The owner center forward (Immobile) was missing, his reserve (Belotti) has shown inadequacy and the new man (Scamacca) is still too immature and has no international experience.
Unleashed the social media, from the “updated” Mancini who becomes Ventura to the choice of the team to cheer for in Qatar: the disappointment among the fans is great. The memory of the European Championship is far away, the gratitude for the happy moments cannot make us forget that Italy triumphed after winning the semifinal (Spain) and final (England) on penalties: the Blindfolded Goddess who smiled at the blues in the summer, has now turned away. We lost the first match point for Qatar 2022, we have another one at our disposal. At the end of March Italy will play the playoffs. The hope is to get there without the anxiety that gripped the Azzurri in Belfast, with a more incisive game and with a lighter spirit. Otherwise we will have to watch the World Cup of others from the sofa at home.
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