JLucerne is a red storm, but the Italian national football team is in terror after the Belfast World Cup qualifiers. In Switzerland, the final whistle has not sounded on Monday night, and the benches and supervisors are no longer sitting in their seats and cheering. Defeated Bulgaria 4-0 (0-0) and the league won the first place in Group C, shocking Italy. The European champions did not draw 0-0 in Northern Ireland in parallel matches. Tickets that were considered safe to participate in the 2022 Qatar Championship are gone. Instead, it entered the playoffs, and unpleasant opponents such as Portugal, Sweden and Poland are waiting.
Not long ago, Italy was still the standard by which everything was measured. Head coach Roberto Mancini’s team remained unbeaten in 37 games and added the title to the first Pan-European Championship in July. But then, Tifosi’s hunger seemed to be satisfied. They lost in the games against Bulgaria and Switzerland.
The World Record Series ended in a 1:2 loss to Spain in the semifinals of the National League. In the second round against the League, Jorginho could have made it very clear, but the European Player of the Year failed from stoppage time. “In the key game against Switzerland, we missed two penalty kicks. Obviously, something like this would get us into trouble because we had a lot of problems when scoring goals in the game,” Mancini said.
In the end, Italy ran for 90 minutes in vain. But their performance is the same as all other team rivals in Northern Ireland. Because in the current World Cup qualifiers, the home team does not have to accept a goal in the home game.
On the other hand, Switzerland has not lost its courage. The home team already had the advantage in the first round. But until after the intermission, Noah Okafor (48th), Ruben Vargas (57th), Cedric Iten (72nd) and Remo Floyer (No. 90+1) only used a goal to eliminate all doubts. “I can’t speak,” the lead scorer Okafor admitted. “We have always believed in ourselves. We remain calm, this is what a team deserves.”
Italy is not even a 1-0 victory because of the tie rules, so without the four-time champion, the second consecutive World Cup would be threatened. Mancini was obviously disappointed after the final whistle. He said: “We will participate in the World Cup after the playoffs in March, and maybe we will win the game. We must find a way back to glory, and I believe we will succeed.”
England shot down San Marino
England also participated in the World Cup in Qatar. In the San Marino 10-0 (6-0) game, Harry Kane became an excellent shooter with four goals. He scored all goals in just 15 minutes, including two penalty kicks. Poland must enter the playoffs. In the 1:2 (0:1) match against Hungary, Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski missed every corner.
In Group F, it was clear before the last match day that Denmark would enter the final. However, in the end, the 1992 European champion team missed their tenth victory in their tenth game. In Scotland 0:2 (0:1), John Sutar and Che Adams messed up the Danish’s perfect qualifications. The Scot can still hope to win second place. However, Austria achieved a reconciliation result. The fourth place in the group that entered the playoffs through the National League defeated Moldova 4-1 (2-0).
