Luciano reversed the negative climate surrounding Italy. Among the other top players, only Deschamps has a more important CV
– leverkusen (germany)
“Don’t say cat…”, we follow proverbs, teachings and the popular wisdom of the old Trapattoni. He had seen and experienced so much as a player and coach that he knew how to put his hands forward before risking falling. And the coach also got help from the Holy Water: have you ever seen… We all take it for granted that at least one point will be achieved with Ukraine, just enough to qualify for the European Championship in Germany in June. But better to wait before blowing the trumpets. On paper everything says Italy, but the matches must be prepared and played. Knowing Spalletti he will keep the tension high, he will not distort his game even if we have two results out of three, he will not present a wait-and-see Italy. We’ll play the game. Of course, with balance and at the right pace: we don’t have to win, we don’t have to score 5 goals. Even a 0-0 is enough for us, but there is no more dangerous situation than leaving a game open until the end. At the risk of having to lick their wounds afterwards. We are in Leverkusen to score, win, get the qualification ticket directly as protagonists and not as gatecrashers. Humble, concentrated, hungry, dragged by new certainties, with the pleasure of playing, but also carrying with us a pinch of healthy fear, the one that makes you keep your eyes open and doesn’t make you relax until the referee blows the whistle for the end. But also without forgetting that we are the reigning European champions. Our football history cannot be canceled out by some bitter disappointments: tomorrow Ukraine must do the feat, not us. First Pallattian rule: no fooling around, no presumptions, but confidence in what we do, are and represent. The coach is giving us the optimism that all this can happen
New climate
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His real masterpiece so far has not been obtaining 10 fundamental points in 5 matches against teams less equipped than Italy (a draw in Macedonia, three wins at home against Ukraine, Malta and Macedonia, defeat at Wembley against England), but turning the tables a negative climate and mistrust that surrounded the entire Azzurri environment: team, fans, press. Spalletti took over a national team suddenly abandoned by Mancini, scared, who had lost certainties, the pleasure of playing, knowledge and the magical atmosphere that had led us to triumph at the European Championship. The failure to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row had turned everything and everyone off a bit, also causing us to re-evaluate the feat of Wembley 2021 and the record of matches without defeats: “Unrepeatable magic”, “Planets aligned”, “Not the beginning of a cycle but its end” and so on. From riches to rags as we are used to in Italy. Mancini, it has been said to the point of boredom, got the way and timing of his farewell wrong: he should have said enough in March 2022 after failing to pass to Qatar. But then the mega Arab offer wasn’t on the table and not even a top club ready to welcome it… However, not all evils come with a silver lining: at the time we wouldn’t have had any great alternatives at hand. As luck would have it, on August 15th 2023 when Mancio said “hello everyone” opening a crisis that could have been disastrous, there were two top coaches, Spalletti and Conte, willing to hear the cry of pain of a Federation taken by surprise.
Right choices
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Ready to go, very little was needed for Spalletti to restore the national team’s luster, pride, sense of belonging, rules, enthusiasm and play. He made non-trivial choices in the call-ups, quickly removed all the dust accumulated after the 2021 European Championship and started a new cycle. Steady hand, experience, desire, clear ideas, great knowledge. The results that fixed the ranking were the consequence of all this. We don’t have Bellingham and Mbappé, and even if Spalletti is right to put the players first by praising Chiesa as our Sinner, the truth is that we have the real champion on the bench. Looking at the coaches of the other top-tier national teams, only Didier Deschamps has a more important and prestigious CV thanks to the World Cup won in 2018 and second place in 2022, the silver in the 2016 European Championship without forgetting national cups and the championship at the helm of Marseille. But it must also be said that coaching France in the last 10 years with the infinite number of players and some super champions has been a good life… For the rest: with England, Southgate is more the coach who lost the European Championship at home, rather than the good coach who reached the final. Spain coach De la Fuente, 62 years old, comes from the Federation and boasts many medals in the Under, but no success with clubs and adults. Germany has just changed coach: Flick has been sacked, Nagelsmann is here, a 36-year-old child prodigy, who exploded in Leipzig, at Bayern he won a championship and two German super cups (not an impossible feat, leading the Bavarians…) before to be sacked and make way for Tuchel. Portugal is led by Martinez, formerly of Belgium: he won a bronze at the World Cup in Russia.
His football
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Let’s face it: Spalletti has nothing to envy of any of them… The only doubt that concerned him was linked to the difference between working every day with a club team and the little time a coach has available. But after three months Spalletti already seems like a veteran in the national team and his football shows, even if intensity, pressing, movements still have great room for improvement. And that’s a good thing. The first goal, the one requested of him by president Gravina and the Italians, is one step away: qualification. Then we will think about how to make this group grow, improve the performers on an individual level and through the game, hoping that some surprise players will emerge during the championship to try to reduce the gap with the better equipped national teams and better defend our throne. of European Champions. We hope to think about it from Tuesday. There is one last obstacle to overcome first. Don’t say cat…
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