Now there is trouble. Or in any case everything becomes even more complicated. This difficult draw at the Olimpico (1-1) with Switzerland, with the aggravating circumstance of the penalty missed by Serginho at the end of the match (the third consecutive failed by the blue with the national team!), Forces us on Monday to go to Belfast with the obligation to win. And above all to beat Northern Ireland with the highest number of goals possible, which is not easy given that, lately, Italy is having a tremendous effort to put it in. We are also wrong on a penalty. Continuing to repeat to ourselves that we are European champions is not enough. The electrifying nights at Wembley in this autumn of discontent are just a blurred memory. In the last eight games, the Azzurri have only won twice. We don’t win because we don’t score. And we don’t score because we play badly. We are slow and too stretched. Clumsy and inaccurate. And also not very reactive both physically and mentally. Perhaps it is human, many players have come out of a crazy summer, almost unrepeatable.
A first half to forget
In the end, with the Swiss, with that penalty thrown to the stars, we could also have closed the game by earning a secure booking for the World Cup in Qatar. But in the first half the Azzurri were embarrassing. Always subdued, never on the piece. In the first twenty minutes, every restart of the Swiss, on our right side, was a stab. And not only for Widmer’s 12 ‘goal (hit from the edge of the area that makes Donnarumma dry). In fact, three minutes later, still on his right side, Okafor sowed panic and ended a little to the side. To straighten the game (after a sensational opportunity wasted by Barella a stone’s throw from Sommer) it took a free kick by Insigne, deflected into the net by Di Lorenzo on a clumsy exit from the Swiss goalkeeper, for once too not flawless. .
Two effective changes …
But even the draw didn’t help much. The real change of pace took place only after an hour, in the second half, when Mancini finally removed the intangible Belotti and the unfocused Locatelli. With the entry of Berardi and Tonali, with the central attacking church, something has finally changed. Italy gained the field by putting pressure on their opponents: and finally we saw something of the national team we know.
… but they weren’t enough
Faster passes, vertical actions, constant pressing that allowed us to threaten Sommer’s goal several times. Calabria and Raspadori, who took the place of Emerson and Insigne, also gave more incisiveness. Even the exit of Barella (too electric) for Cristante has revitalized us. But the changes weren’t enough. Just as the blitzes of Berardi were not enough, the only one really able, with his dribbles, to clear the match. The penalty granted by the referee Taylor after the intervention of the Var was born precisely from an incursion by the Emilian. evil, hits Italy after taking us to Heaven at the European Championships.
Again like in Basel, Serginho missed the penalty by throwing the ball over the crossbar. A cold shower for the 57,000 spectators of the Olimpico who by now, one minute from the 90th, were already looking forward to the victory of the Azzurri. It is not fair to throw the cross on a player, even too brave, who has given a lot to the national team, but a little prudence on the part of the bench would not have hurt. “He is the penalty taker, it happens to be wrong” then retorted Mancini to reduce the episode which, however, will weigh heavily next Monday when Italy will have to contend with the Irish. The problem is this: that Italy and Switzerland lead group C with the same score (15 points). And the Azzurri have a favorable goal difference of two goals. Except that the Swiss, crossing with Bulgaria, will have an easier task.