Fearful opponent leaves Italy trembling from bitter déjà vu
It was North Macedonia that denied Italy's footballers participation in the 2022 World Cup. Now the reigning European champions are trembling for qualification for the 2024 European Championship. Italy may have its fate in its own hands - but the recent past is a warning to be cautious.
The whole of Italy is worried, but Luciano Spalletti remains calm. "We have to deal with fear," demands the Italian national team coach, "it will accompany us on our way." So far, the Squadra Azzurra's path to the European Championship in Germany has been extremely bumpy, participation is anything but assured - and now, of all times, it's a clash with a fearful opponent.
After all, the match against North Macedonia this Friday (20:45/DAZN) in Rome is likely to bring back bad memories throughout Italy. In March 2022, the reigning European champions failed to make the play-offs against the small Balkan country on their way to Qatar and missed out on a World Cup for the second time in a row. A year and a half later, the entire football-crazy nation is once again trembling over its participation in a major tournament. Another defeat against North Macedonia would increase the pressure even more.
Next Monday, the final match in Group C will be a clash with their closest rivals, Ukraine. A win against North Macedonia would mean that Spalletti's team would only need a draw to qualify. Otherwise, they would need a three-pointer against the Eastern Europeans, who are playing their home game in Leverkusen due to the Russian war of aggression.
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The Italians still have everything in their own hands, and Spalletti is correspondingly relaxed. "A win in the first game would be a nice advantage in the second game," he says matter-of-factly. But even the 64-year-old does not have very fond memories of North Macedonia in his short time as Italy's head coach. The 1-1 draw in the first leg in Skopje last September was his debut on the sidelines of the Squadra.
In general, there is a lot of pressure on Roberto Mancini's successor. The European champion turned his back on the Italian association in August in order to "get to know the passionate soccer culture" in Saudi Arabia. The two national players Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli were recently banned for several months in the wake of a betting scandal. And things are also not going entirely smoothly for the SSC Napoli coach.
The most recent defeat was a 3:1 defeat against England, who had already qualified for the European Championship, in October. However, Spalletti emphasizes that he also saw "many bright spots" in this game and that he is not in "intense darkness". Should the Italians still fail to qualify directly, they would still have to take a detour via the play-offs in March. However, as the European champions have already discovered, participation in the tournament is by no means guaranteed.
Italy's anxious anticipation for the European Championship 2024 intensifies, as they face North Macedonia in qualification once more. A repeat of the 2022 World Cup qualification disappointment looms, with Italy needing a strong performance to secure a place in the tournament.
In the face of this challenge, Spalletti urges his team to confront their fear and use it as motivation, acknowledging the rough journey they've had so far in their quest for the European Championship.
Source: www.ntv.de
