Another "black night" for Italian football
Italy lost resoundingly to Norway in the opening match of their road to the 2026 World Cup.
Something is not working well, not only at Inter (they lost undefeated in the Champions League final), but also at the Italian national team which on Friday night (6/6) in Oslo, in its first match of the 2026 World Cup qualifying phase, lost 3-0 to the corresponding team of Norway (goals by Charlotte 14', Nusa 34', Haaland 42'). So a disastrous night for Luciano Spalletti's team who in the press conference later assured that his work will continue with these footballers:
"We conceded the first goal that could have been avoided. In the big venues, their individuality put us in a difficult position. We lacked players who could fight to beat our opponents. Can this match put the project in question? I am the leader of this team. I will move forward like this, there is room for improvement in some aspects, but we will move forward with this project”.
For his part, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma commented: "We gave too many gifts, but we will move forward with this group. I have no explanation at the moment. We just have to go inside and realize the performance tonight. Our fans do not deserve this. We must all come out of these games together, we must examine our conscience’: this is how Gianluigi Donnarumma commented on Italy’s bad defeat by Norway on the microphones of RAI.
"How are we going to get out of this? With us, we have to start with ourselves first. We are Italy and these games are not acceptable. Everyone has to say mea culpa and then we all get out of this together. We have to be more united than before."
So things are not going well for Italian football in general! There are very few world-class footballers. Where are the successors to Mazzola, Rivera, De Sisti and the younger Roberto Baggio, Giannini or Totti? Nicolo Barella is good but he does not play in the same position nor can he be compared to the aforementioned. The same goes for Sandro Tonali.
It is a fact that the Italian Football Federation must set as its priority, in view of the final phase of the 2028 European Championship, which it will co-organize with Turkey, a program that starts with the Youth teams. And to emphasize beautiful, creative, attractive and fast football, something that seems to have been forgotten in Italy... Otherwise, defeats will rain down...
Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece)
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