Between desire for Europe and World Cup frustration
European champions Italy have qualified for the finals of the Nations League. The Italians won Group A3 in Hungary 2-0 (1-0) on Monday and overtook the previously surprising leaders by one point. Giacomo Raspadori (27th minute) and Federico Dimarco (52nd) scored the goals for coach Roberto Mancini’s team.
In the direct duel for group victory, both teams offered a committed exchange of blows from the start. Raspadori scored for Italy, who had bettered before the break and had not qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, after a string of errors in the Hungarian back line. After the break, Hungary pressed for the equalizer with the four Bundesliga professionals Péter Gulácsi, Willi Orbán and Dominik Szoboszlai (all RB Leipzig) and András Schäfer (Union Berlin). Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several brilliant saves, including against long-time Bundesliga player Ádám Szalai in his last international for Hungary.
Ahead of Italy, the Netherlands and Croatia reached the semi-finals of the Nations League (June 14/15, 2023) as group leaders on Sunday. Portugal and Spain will be battling it out in Group A2 on Tuesday for fourth place in the final round. The defending champions are world champions France, who only managed to avoid relegation from Group A on Sunday thanks to the help of the Croatians.
Italy between desire for Europe and World Cup frustration: “Survive December”
It’s like there have been two Italian national teams for years. After triumphing in the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, the “Squadra Azzurra” failed twice in the preliminary rounds of the following World Cups, most recently the proud football nation even missed out on qualifying twice in a row. In March it drew 1-0 with North Macedonia.
All 32 tickets awarded: These teams have qualified for the 2022 World Cup
That’s another reason why qualifying for the final tournament of the Nations League was little consolation for national coach Mancini. He was satisfied, “but unfortunately the previous results remain”. The current goal? “Get through the month of December.” Then Italy will be missing from the big global stage in Qatar. Instead, two friendlies against Albania and Austria are on the schedule.
The World Cup tournament should be ignored, the view is already in the future. And also beyond the coming summer with the Nations League final tournament. A year later, Italy wants to defend the title at the EM 2024 in Germany. This is one of the reasons why Mancini, unlike his predecessors, was allowed to stay after the recent World Cup humiliation and initiate a new beginning. 34 outfield players were used in front of seeded goalkeeper Donnarumma in the six Nations League games.
Instead of the EM offensive with Federico Chiesa, Ciro Immobile or Lorenzo Insigne, Mancini attacked young, internationally unknown players such as Raspadori, Wilfried Gnonto and Gianluca Scamacca. “We’ve been good at rebooting and rebuilding a group that has values and that we can work on,” Mancini said. The fact that there is still some work to do for the current European champions was shown not least by the only defeat in the Nations League – the 2:5 against Germany.
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