The ghost of dams haunts Italy again.
After the earthquake of 2017, and the elimination of Squadra Azzura by Sweden, the transalpine people again see the qualification of their selection in the World Cup uncertain.
Roberto Mancini's men were to win in Belfast against Northern Ireland, if possible with a significant gap in the event of a large Swiss victory in Bulgaria.
The latter did take place since the Helvetians largely won in Lucerne against the Bulgarians (4-0) but Italy was far from the account in Belfast.
By sharing the points at Windsor Park (0-0), the Nazionale sees its direct qualification for Qatar fly away.
This Tuesday morning, the concern is palpable in an Italian press, taken aback by the performance of the Azzuri.
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An unrecognizable Italy
But where has flamboyant Italy gone, which lifted the Euro 2020 trophy last July at Wembley?
This is the question posed by the transalpine press this Tuesday morning after any performance by Mancini's men in Belfast.
"
An Italy unrecognizable in the principles of the game, in the spirit and in the
players", summarizes the journalist of the
Gazzetta dello sport
, Marco Pasotto.
"
Italy has done little more than tickle its opponent,
" said Enrico Curro of
La Repubblica
while
Tutto Sport
, in one, claims "another Italy".
Offensive ineffectiveness is one of the main shortcomings pointed out by Italian newspapers.
"
The offensive problem has now taken on gigantic proportions: we have failed to score even with five forwards on the pitch,
" notes Marco Pasotto.
After the successive entries of Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Scamacca, Italy presented a resolutely offensive but above all disorganized 11 which could even have suffered the coup de grace if Leonardo Bonucci had not saved a ball on his line at the very end of the match. .
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Another dysfunction particularly commented on this Tuesday, the ghostly performance of Jorginho in midfield, he who was so precious during the Euro, despite his missed shot in the final.
“
He's wasting too many balloons.
It is unrecognizable,
”writes
Corriere della sera
.
In addition to his failed match on Monday night, the Chelsea midfielder remains on three missed penalties in the Azzuro jersey, two of which against Switzerland in this qualifying campaign.
One in the first leg in Basel and the other last week in Rome.
Two failures which have a non-negligible responsibility in this catastrophic scenario which leads Italy to the dams.
The specter of 2017 is back
In Italy, the mere mention of the word "dam" is enough to generate tension and cold sweats. The whole country remembers the episode in Sweden in 2017 when the Scandinavians deprived the Nazionale of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
"What a nightmare"
title this Tuesday La Gazzetta dello sport which is not mistaken. “
The ghost that we believed to have permanently erased from the horizon, the Swedish nightmare that materializes on the road to Qatar,
” writes journalist Fabio Licari. This famous nightmare could even become more true than life since it is not excluded that Italy is forced to play a chopper match against Sweden… in Stockholm, moreover.
Because of course, Italy is one of the seeds for these dams but this privileged status only applies to the first opposition which should be within the reach of Mancini's men.
On the other hand, once this first step is over, the menu could get tough for Italy.
The possibility of a “final” to reach the World Cup against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal exists and thrills on the other side of the Alps.