A few thoughts on Italy outside the World Cup
Excluded for the second consecutive time, the Azzurri lost the decisive match last night, a few months after the victory of the European Championships
The national football team of Italy will not participate in the World Cup for the second time in a row. There are clearly many more important problems on the planet, from the war in Ukraine to the pandemic, but it is also true that the exclusion of the Azzurri has aroused strong regret throughout Italy, also because it comes a few months after a great triumph.
The Italians played the decisive match last night at the Renzo Barbera stadium in the city of Palermo, losing 1–0 in the 92nd to North Macedonia, a tough but absolutely within-reach team. A former Palermo player, Aleksandar Trajkovski, scored the fatal goal in injury time: among other things, in terms of goals, his fast had lasted for more than three years.
The recent history of Italy, a particularly young squad coached by coach Roberto Mancini, is absurd. First, they won the European Championships almost by surprise, beating fearsome England in the final on 11 July, then they experienced an unexpected decline that led them to fail the qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Along the way, the lack of results was affected by episodes and circumstances, including a few too many defections, some injuries, and two missed penalties by the Brazilian-born midfielder Jorginho.
Sports are an important part of the lives of many people, fans, and enthusiasts, and the absence of the Azzurri at the next World Cup is bad news. In these hours we talk about the possible resignation of the coach. But I believe that if they arrive they may be rejected.
After all, the boys are young and promising: they will have plenty of time to react, find the right spirit, and start again. It is likely that in order to accomplish this difficult feat, these players still want to lead them by Mancini.
Update. Mancini, the players, and the Federation have decided to continue the journey together, in search of redemption, perhaps starting as early as the next European Championships. So the team has already restarted with a nice 3–2 win in a match against Turkey
