For the Italian National Football Team, this is certainly not a positive period, using an euphemism. We could even term it as one of the worst moments in its history.
The failed qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia still weighs like a boulder.
This is the result of the wicked Tavecchio - Ventura management, but also due to the low average level of the players.
It does not take long: just skip back a generation and you can easily see the abysmal difference between the team that wasn't able to score a goal to Sweden and the one that beat France in the 2006 World Cup Final in Berlin.
But, after the disappointment, we have already entered a new course, the one signed Roberto Mancini.
The coach is an esteemed person, a professional with international experience, sure ready to begin a route leading the Italian National Team.
I think that, given the impossibility of convincing Ancelotti, he represents one of the best options at the moment.
Will it be an easy or difficult job for him?
Well, doing worse than Ventura would really be a feat, so if we reason about the starting point, it's an easy stint.
But if we think in absolute terms, Italy aims to re-enter at least among the top 8 teams in the world and then the challenge gets very complicated.
These first matches of UEFA Nations League proved this.
Meanwhile, we are not at the final four. And then, the players showed that they are on a level that is still too ordinary to think of challenging on a par, the most equipped national teams in the world.
The 0-0 of San Siro against Portugal (without CR7) is perhaps a strict result for Italy. But are we sure we can be satisfied with this? I think no.
I see a lot of goodwill, a united group, and this is positive. But we must find the way to win these games and to return to being a team to beat.
Usually, a Star gives these features to the group. The great champion, the Top Player around which a winning team is built. We have it? Maybe not.
We have a lot of good players and the positive news is that a big part of them have a young age, enough to play at least 2-3 of the next most important competitions.
A project, a course, a cycle could be start.
Mancini is building his team on a precise idea. In the last matches, he changed very few players, proving that he has chosen a well-defined way and that he is working to follow it as best he can.
To be aware of this, just take a look at the last two line ups in the official UEFA Nations League matches against Poland and Portugal.
Goalkeeper and defenders are the same in both matches, with Donnarumma, the designated heir of Gigi Buffon, who is proving to be reliable in the National Team and to be able to improve a lot, gaining experience.
The tried and tested Bonucci - Chiellini couple in the middle of the defense seems to be essential, even if the two are no longer very young. Behind them, players of absolute value as Caldara, Rugani and Romagnoli are pawing, as well as other interesting defenders of new generation are distinguishing themselves for their qualities.
Florenzi is the right defender, a role that already often he plays in AS Roma and in which he seems to acquire more and more sureness.
On the other side, we find one of the team's most pleasant surprises, Cristiano Biraghi, match-winner against Poland. The ACF Fiorentina defender is certainly the best intuition of Roberto Mancini so far.
The midfield too is the same in both matches. Verratti and Jorginho are lined up together with the clear attempt to aim on technical quality in the play-making phase. A risky experiment, but it seems to be quite sustainable for the team, so far.
And it's so mostly thanks to the work of the third man, the untiring Barella, a midfielder able to recover balls but also to become offensive, transforming the basic 4-3-3, in a more daring 4-2-3-1.
The options Bonaventura, Pellegrini and Gagliardini remain valid, even if they seem to be considered slightly behind the three first-choice players.
Marco Verratti is the player who has to prove more in this team.
For many reasons, he has never been able to give the best of his class to his National Team, as he has been doing for years in PSG.
He could be one of those stars who can help the team to make a definitive leap. Mancini knows it well and in fact put it at the center of the project.
Regarding the forward, Insigne and Chiesa are two fixed points, the wings that have the assignment of creating the most of opportunities. Sprint and creativity are not lacking for the two players, even in this case, perhaps, they need a step further to reach the final consecration and become the champions who can and must make the difference. Bernardeschi and Berardi are the most valid alternatives, but more or less, the same is true for them.
In this moment, then, the centre-forward is the biggest problem for the team, not so much for the shortage of strikers, but for the fact that the goals are hard to arrive.
Everyone expect a lot from Immobile and Belotti, two bombers that have always scored many goals, but that alternate ups and downs and that seem to play better in their clubs than in the National Team.
Abandoned (hopefully finally) the option Balotelli, the player to whom the coach is giving more confidence is Kevin Lasagna, although it's hoped that soon a great goleador to get everyone to agree.
That's all. Waiting for the renaissance, there's only to wish
good work and good luck to Mr. Roberto Mancini!
I think he will need it.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!
See you soon!
Girolamo
Follow me and @scorum-italia
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