Enlarge image
Cristiano Ronaldo wants to go to his last World Cup with Portugal
Photo:
PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
It all started with a draw against Bulgaria.
So what?
It was still summer and it felt like a friendly game, if not like a homage: here the newly crowned European champions Italy, there a stadium that was at least half full after an almost eternal pandemic.
Chances over chances, 27:4 shots on goal, 10:0 corners, but only one goal and then eventually the equalizer.
Six months after that evening in Florence, Italy is facing a “week of passion”, as national coach Roberto Mancini proclaimed.
But actually Italy has its back against the wall.
Because the draw against Bulgaria was followed by another two against Switzerland and one in Northern Ireland in the World Cup qualifier;
first the exuberance was gone, then the lightness, and then came the emptiness.
Which is why the four-time world champion not only has to beat Macedonia in the evening in a World Cup play-off game (8.45 p.m., stream: Dazn), but also has to win in Portugal or Turkey on Tuesday if they win.
A showdown between the European champions and their predecessor Portugal would be the attraction of a historic international week.
As much as there is clamor about the "bullshit" (the Dutch national coach Louis van Gaal) of a World Cup in Qatar - everyone wants to be there.
15 participants, including Germany, have already been determined, for three you have to wait until June.
But the remaining 14 will be determined between this morning CET with the Australia vs. Japan match and next Thursday night with the final round in the North/Central America division (Concacaf).
The fear of the Italians before the play-offs
It's a week for cosmopolitans and football geeks who, of course, know that Colombia haven't scored in seven qualifiers - and still have outsider chances in South America to accompany Brazil and Argentina to the World Cup.
That a month after their Africa Cup of Nations final, Liverpool stars Sadio Mané (Senegal) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) are dueling again in a two-legged match for a World Cup ticket.
Or that the pandemic hit the Oceania group in particular, which is why a centralized qualifying tournament was scheduled in Qatar, from which a number of participants had to withdraw.
Nonetheless, they are confident that by next Wednesday they will have the team set to play an intercontinental playoff against fourth-placed Concacaf in June.
Three places were supposed to be up for grabs in Europe now, but Ukraine's game in Scotland has been pushed back to June in the hope that something will be better then.
The winner from Wales will have to wait that long against Austria for the final in the first »playoff path«.
In the second, Poland is already in the final after being excluded from Russia and will host Sweden or the Czech Republic there.
And in the third, Portugal and Italy were drawn.
It could hardly have gotten worse for the reigning European champions.
As if the draw with the away final wasn't vicious enough, there's also trauma at play.
When Italy went into a play-off four years ago, a resilient Swedes were enough to eliminate the Azzurri before the finals for the first time since 1958.
Parts of the starting eleven are still identical, such as Jorginho, who was apparently so caught up in the specter of relegation in the autumn that he missed crucial penalties in both group games against Switzerland.
Captain Giorgio Chiellini, 37, was also there against the Swedes.
In his appeal to the Tifosi ("Relax!"), he simply reinterpreted the story yesterday: "The experience of four years ago will help us to manage the emotions." Just think positively, in line with national coach Roberto Mancini, who tries to de-dramatize the play-off by declaring it to be a simple intermediate step: "We want to be world champions and for that we have to win these two games first."
Italy in March should not be like the Italy of autumn, when in the Nations League against Spain also broke the world record streak of 37 games without defeat.
But just do the same thing as in the summer: "This group created a title out of nothing that nobody believed in."
Portugal – too good to be eliminated
Roughly the same as Portugal five years earlier – which now, like the Italians, suddenly slipped into malaise.
On the last day of the group match, only one point was needed at home against Serbia.
But the spectators in Lisbon's Estádio da Luz saw a paralyzed Seleção, who conceded the goal in the last minute to make it 2-1.
Out of superstition, people now prefer to play in Porto's Estádio do Dragão - which is still positive due to the Nations League win in 2019.
Where Italy lost the Mojo in autumn, Portugal already missed it at the European Championship.
This is particularly irritating because there is a uniquely wide selection available on the offensive with João Félix, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Gonçalo Guedes, Rafael Leão or Leipzig’s André Silva – not even counting Cristiano Ronaldo.
As the sports newspaper »A Bola« commented after the Serbia debacle: »So many and such good players, but Portugal kicks like Andorra.«
Somehow, excess seems to have upset the balance that ultra-pragmatic European champions coach Fernando Santos has always placed his greatest focus on.
Over the winter, the qualified engineer worked on a successful formula again.
To provide evidence today, however, he is missing three central regular players in the weaker sections of the team in defense and midfield with Pepe (Covid), Rúben Dias and Renato Sanches (both injured).
Stefan Kuntz' Turkey has nothing to lose
Stefan Kuntz, the German coach of opponent Turkey, is comparatively relaxed.
His team can achieve anything – but doesn't have to.
Turkish football achieved its greatest successes, such as the EM semi-finals in 2008, as an underdog, in dramatic games on the verge of madness.
Making this energy usable and at the same time maintaining order: this is how Kuntz' task can be described.
As a player in 1996 and later several times as U21 national coach, he was European champion, he is familiar with final situations.
The more the game in Porto becomes a matter of nerves, the greater the problems for the favourite.
After all, history speaks for Portugal, which has a flawless play-off record - and in Cristiano Ronaldo a proven specialist.
Unforgotten is his hat-trick in the relegation against Sweden on the way to the 2014 World Cup. Now, at the age of 37, he is supposed to do it again.
The week of passion is also about his legend;
that what will probably be his last World Cup isn't over before it even begins.
