Italy looks to Macedonia with an eye on Wembley

Thursday in Palermo the first challenge for the World Cup with the 2017 play-off nightmare. Mancini confident: “Let’s take inspiration from the European Championship, we didn’t win it by chance”

SENT TO FLORENCE

From the Auditorium to the Aula Magna of casa azzurri, in Coverciano you can count the steps: a hundred, a little more. Roberto Mancini finds himself for the first time to tell about his eves – this time among the least banal in our recent history – with the blow-up of the night of Wembley on either side of him. “We have to think about this, not by chance that the European Championship will be won: it will help us to regain knowledge and lightness now that we play the pass for the World Cup”. The images of the Azzurri triumphs make this place magical and the passage experienced at Wembley gives it a renewed sporting sacredness.

Here we are. After four months Mancini’s Italy gets back into motion in the way that suits her best: challenges from inside or outside as happened at Euro 2020 between the round of 16 with Austria and the final against the English hosts.

Here we are. And within the group called not to fail the double mission – Thursday against Macedonia in Palermo, five days later, hopefully, in Portugal or Turkey – there is a significant part of young people who have already gone through a wait like this. : 10 and 13 November 2017, Sweden-Italy 1-0 and Italy-Sweden 0-0 with the trip to Russia 2018 gone up in smoke. Donnarumma, Florenzi, Bonucci, Chiellini, Jorginho, Verratti, Immobile, Belotti and Insigne were part of the expedition led by Giampiero Ventura and are part of today’s narrative.

No “Plan B”

Mancini does not know a plan B (“Maybe there is for you, not for me: I only think about going to the World Cup to win it …”, he says) and he knows the way to get rid of bad thoughts. «Anyone who was in the previous playoff can think again, that’s okay, we’re human. But he – he underlines – in those moments it will be necessary to go back to July, to the victory that no one had predicted ». A dip in the past, but recent: the way indicated by the coach. Mancini did not get even an extra hour of work with his Azzurri because the league of clubs outside the Champions League did not even dedicate a League Assembly to try to stop and thus assist those who move. Italian ennobled last summer.

“That’s how it went now, we can’t do anything about it: now I find myself preparing for the first match with half training and the possible second with just one complete training session”, Mancini emphasizes. And what someone has defined as owls and owls does not change the mood of the Italian coach. “They’ve always been there, it’s not a problem. We have been focused on these playoffs for some time, ”he says.

In the Aula Magna of Coverciano, Wembley is the backdrop to the week that we will have to live without fear. «A bit of bad luck led us to play the World Cup like this, but I’m optimistic: the best will be in November, let’s let these days of passion pass …», says Mancio. Remember his message of July 11th. –

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