Italy wins suffering against Moldova and will finish with Norway already knowing that they have to go through the playoffs to the World Cup. In March we will need more…
At a certain point the group of Italian fans who flew to Chisinau lost patience and started to protest. More than the substance, it is the form that counts the effort that Italy made to take the victory at the last minute (Mancini and Pio Esposito headed in the last minutes) relaxing in a performance that was little more than sufficient against modest Moldovia – position number 156 in the FIFA rankings and 26 goals conceded in the first six group outings – he exhausted everyone’s reserves starting from Gattuso on the bench.
It’s true that Sorloth and Haaland’s braces against Estonia had removed any competitive weight from the penultimate Italian match on the road to next summer’s World Cup, but there were at least a couple of reasons to beat the Moldovans anyway and keep going: protect the Italian ranking which could hopefully be useful in the world draw and avoid adding negativity to an objectively not easy situation.
Italy barely managed to reach the first objectivenot the second. Statistics cannot be used as exculpatory. The almost total ball possession (77%), the 28 shots towards the opponent’s goal and the 13 corner kicks are not enough to justify the fact of having allowed a national team too far away from ours in terms of values to remain glued to us until almost the final whistle. The lack of concentration and not even having preserved many starters ahead of the match against Norway at San Siro are not factors: there was a clear step backwards in the performance which raises alarm bells ahead of the playoffs in March.
A draw will determine our fate in the last barrage leading to the World Cup, which will be decisive above all in indicating the opponent and location of the final. To get there, however, Italy will have to go through a first match against an opponent that is almost certainly inferior and will have to be attacked with ferocity and quality; In short, much more is needed than what was seen in Chisinau where some so-called second lines disappointed. It’s a problem, given that in March it will be necessary to manage forces in the double commitment and the bitter disappointment experienced in Palermo against North Macedonia in 2021 sounds like a warning.
The victory is the only small consolation to take home. Repeating it against Norway at San Siro will not change anything in the group hierarchies, but it would serve to increase the self-esteem of a group that is only at the beginning of a long and tiring journey. Also because the crossing of the winter desert, until the appointment on March 26th, will be 130 days longall full of nightmares and bad thoughts. The images of the Azzurri bogged down in Chisinau won’t help.
PS – Gattuso behaved like a true leader at the end of the matches. He denied the undeniable by talking about a good Italy but, above all, he took it out on the chants that accompanied a long part of the match. “Saying that someone has to go to work… it’s a shame,” he hissed. At least he’s in the game, too bad he won’t be able to be on the pitch in March.
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