The 3-1 defeat at Wembley makes little difference to the Azzurri's chances of qualifying for next year's European Championship. With England dominating Group C and mathematically promoted, whether Italy will be in Germany to defend the title won in 2021 will still be decided in November, in the last two games: it will absolutely be necessary to beat North Macedonia, on the 17th in Rome, and then face Ukraine on the 20th, on the neutral field of Leverkusen, having two useful results out of three, thanks to the head-to-head advantage after the 2-1 obtained last September in Milan.
However, Luciano Spalletti had also given the demanding trip to England the dimension of the test bench, of the examination of the qualitative growth of the group. Given that picking up at least a point was the minimum objective, the coach was looking above all for answers to the work done at Coverciano and confirmation of the positive sensations tasted in the 4-0 win against Malta. To understand if her Italy had in her head and legs that awareness that - in the coach's intentions - would have allowed her to go to Wembley "not to play the game that happens, but the game we want".
The coach will certainly have been satisfied with the good first half, with the pearl of Scamacca's goal, impacted by the penalty converted by Harry Kane, but in the space of 45 minutes played on a par with the hosts. It was in the second half that England made the difference, physically and technically. As soon as a few mistakes due to diminished lucidity opened a gap between the Azzurri lines, the immense class of players such as Kane himself, but also Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford emerged. And, added to their overflowing athleticism, he imposed an inevitable outcome on the match. After all, we are talking about leaders in clubs such as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, surrounded by colleagues who play in the Premier League, unanimously recognized as the most "coaching" European tournament, as Fabio Capello put it.
But there was also some good on the night at Wembley. Starting with the first Azzurri goal by the aforementioned Scamacca, the most expendable striker with the greatest future that Spalletti has. And then the 20-year-old Udogie's demonstration of personality. The Tottenham defender, although soon burdened with a yellow card (not his fault, but for a mistake in support of Frattesi) still showed that he deserved the shirt. Berardi and El Shaarawi were also promoted.
Since yesterday, the road to Euro 2024 has become a little more uphill, not entirely impassable. But Macedonia must be overcome. In September it was a painful 1-1 draw in Skopje and other encounters make it clear that the commitment must be taken very seriously, starting with the defeat (0-1) in Palermo on 24 March 2022, which cost Italy, then under Roberto Mancini, the second consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup. With one constant: in the previous four, the Macedonians have always scored at least one goal.
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