Italy beats Moldova but result and performance do not erase fears. The last of Spalletti on the bench, the whistles of the public and a score that removes the world qualification even more
Italy beats Moldova, Spalletti closes his adventure on the national team with a success and greets. From September there will be another technical commissioner to chase the qualification to World Cup 2026 And it will not be simple, because the seals of raspadori and Cambiaso are not enough to shorten the huge gap that separates the blues from Norway at least psychologically. To hurry up the accounting, the distance between us and they are huge: 9 points (albeit with two games to play in more) and 10 goals in the goals difference. Haaland has liquidated Estonia by erasing one of the few spaces to hope for a false step Norwegian.
Reggio Emilia’s challenge was played in a surreal climate, with an exonerated coach on the bench and a fabric and disheartened group on the pitch. Could it be done differently? Perhaps. But it was certainly not in anyone’s possibilities to return psychophysical energies to players who, each for their own reasons, arrived with the empty tank at the latest labors of the season. The truth is that the match against Moldova was also a cry: Slow, involved, confused and constantly conditioned by the fear of taking a network that would have complicated everything.
The millimetric offside that canceled the Moldovan advantage at the dawn of the match was a gift of good luck. Getting up would have been a company, a collective psychodrama that today the Italy of the ball is not ready to face. In September, who knows. The Football Federation focuses on the figure of Claudio Ranieri and to get to him he is also willing to bend the interpretation of the rulesso as to make the double assignment possible – albeit unofficial – of the national selector and private consultant of the Friedkin in the things of Rome.
We must hope that Ranieri, by spirit of service, welcomes the proposal and makes himself available. The human material is better than that seen against Norway and Moldova, but the shock for the start of the qualifying path to the 2026 World Cup, which for the Interists welded to that caused by the debacle of the Champions League final, requires first of all someone who knows how to speak to the head and heart of the players, even before studying tactical precautions to try on the field.
To think about what it is for going to the World Cup means lullating an illusion. Better to focus on the objective of locking second place in the group, safeguarding the FIFA ranking (we slipped back) and prepare properly to the March playoff Where everything will count: how do you get there, a pinch of luck and have the mental solidity not to think of Sweden and Macedonia of the North who sent us home in 2018 and 2022.
Last note on Luciano Spalletti, who was spared the humiliation to close with a result other than victory, but not the regret of having presented one of the ugliest national of the last decade. The farewell pass was dignified together, in the assumption of responsibility for the results that were missing from the European Championship to here, and at the same time confused in indicating external enemies and alleged “owls” that have void on his bench. He did not serve him and does not serve the national team who needs special attention to get back on his feet.
Gravina, under the fire of criticism and political opposition in FIGC, will not be able to make mistakes of any of the next moves starting from the choice of the new coach. He will have to do so, sitting, in an uncomfortable position on the defendants’ counter. Since, however, there is no one who has the magic wand that guarantees the qualification, it is right that he played his chances to the end. Possibly without being struck by friendly fire.
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