The importance of being called Harry. On the night of the ‘Maradona’ in which Kane became the all-time scorer for the England national team, his goal performance marked the difference between the national team of the Three Lions and Mancini’s Italy. And the obvious distance, even considering the debut with Mateo Retegui’s goal, is the synthesis of how far behind the national team is after the global shock.
“If Italy is an open construction site, Mancini knows where to intervene: of course, it is one thing to have to change a window or door against a complete renovation..”, the comment from Naples by the president of Coni, Giovanni Malagò, spectator of the blue defeat. If the disappointment hasn’t turned into alarmwithin the team that took the charter for Malta during the night and this morning has already trained in view of the second match on Sunday, it is because the Euro 2024 qualifying formula allows the first two of the group to pass.
Right, behind is North Macedonia which evokes disappointment in the World Cup (in reality he is ahead of the Azzurri in terms of standings, after yesterday’s victory), but no one wants to believe that Elmas’ team can really be a bogeyman again. For this reason, in the “uphill start, with the hope that it then becomes downhill” he spoke of yesterday, the coach is currently concentrating on immediate problems.
Neither Bonucci nor Barella left for Malta, two absences which – even beyond the chronic absence of the centre-forward – underline the recruitment difficulties denounced by the coach. For Sunday there is a run for cover. Tone them he is a good midfield alternative but not in his role, covered by Pessina. In defense, the difficulties of Unripe should against Malta open the doors to Scalvini or Romagnoli. Possible changes also in attack, where dualism is proposed again Retegui-Scamacca.
As for the long term, department by department Mancini cannot sleep peacefully. In defense, with the sunset of Chiellini and the physical troubles of his former Juventus partner, the central pair is no longer a certainty. The difficulties in creating manoeuvres, shown in Naples, then show that the midfield can be reviewed: Verratti is increasingly in PSG version, convoluted, and perhaps Jorginho suffers too much from the double director.
Then, Retegui: the technical skills were glimpsed, but the Argentine he is not the centre-forward on the bank which England enjoyed yesterday, if anything, a tip to be served in depth. With a maneuver therefore faster than the blue dribble. There is time to go back, even if a clear signal comes to the national team from the auditel data: share of 33 percent with peaks of over 7 million in the first half, then in the second half, half a million fans preferred to change the channel.