The good lottery tickets are all delivered to your door. Italy has no excuse not to enter the World Cup this time, right?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Shen Tianhao

"The Cruel Reality! 》

On January 16, 1958, this article title appeared on the left side of the front page of "Gazzetta dello Sport", followed by a line of large characters: "The Irish performed better at Windsor Park, the Italian team missed the World Cup." Sorry, the last five words may cause a stress reaction among many contemporary Italian fans, but after the draw of the European play-offs of this World Cup, it is difficult not to look back on this distant history.

The Nightmare at Windsor Park

It was the 1958 World Cup qualifying match, and it was also the last time the Italian team missed the World Cup in the 20th century. Of course there was no George Best in Northern Ireland at that time, but there were former World Cup champions in the Italian team: the 1950 Maracana heroes Schiaffino and Higgia both appeared on the court in Belfast. result? Schiaffino failed to make any contribution, and Higgia was sent off with a red card in the second half. The Italian team fell behind by two goals early, and finally regained a goal to no avail.

What is extremely dramatic is that this game was originally supposed to be played on December 4, 1957, but it was postponed because the Hungarian referee Zolt was trapped at the London Airport in heavy fog. The Northern Irishman found the famous national whistler Mitchell as an alternative, but was rejected by the Italian Football Association. Considering that many fans were ready to watch the game, the World Cup preliminaries were postponed, but the two teams played a friendly match in Belfast first. The atmosphere was tense, large-scale clashes broke out, and the final score was 2-2 - a score that would have allowed the Azzurri to advance to the main draw (Italy only needed a draw to qualify).

In the official match more than a month later, the score became 1-2. The then coach Alfredo Forni paid the price of his coaching position for the defeat, and he became the previous version of Ventura in the history of Italian football. It was rumored that the famous journalist Gianni Brera suggested that Forni base his defense on defense and copy the defensive "chain" created by Rocco in Padua. However, Forni was dazzled by the pride of "we are Italy" and changed his usual conservative tactics.

I hope Gattuso today will not make the same mistake as Forney. The former World Cup champion mainly played a set of 433 in his previous coaching career, but after taking up the national team, he mainly promoted a set of radical 424, trying to maximize the team's offensive potential. What was the result? Before facing Norway in the final round, the Italians did win all the games they should win. The five goals in the half against Estonia once made people believe that they really had a chance to catch up with the Norwegian's goal difference. However, the narrow 5-4 victory against Israel in Hungary's "away" game fully exposed the fragility of this team. Back at San Siro, probably no one really believed that Italy could beat Norway by 9, but a good game could have restored some confidence for them. Gattuso's team performed well in the first 45 minutes, but became deflated in the second half of the game. The defense led by Bastoni collapsed in front of Haaland.

Familiar faces and violent red dragons

The good news is: there is no Haaland in Northern Ireland. Not only that, they even lack a true center. Price, the leading forward of the representative team, was originally a midfielder. However, the team is in good form under Michael O'Neill. In Group A of the World Cup preliminaries, they double defeated Luxembourg, which has improved rapidly in recent years, and also won away from Slovakia, coached by Italian Calzona. If the Italian team had defeated Germany in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals, they should have entered the group where Northern Ireland was. Now, the meeting between the two teams has changed to the play-off semi-finals. This campaign will be held on the evening of March 26 next year, local time. Italy, as the seeded team, will play at home, and the venue is likely to be in Bergamo (which witnessed a 5-0 victory against Estonia).

What’s interesting is that the Italian team has missed the World Cup for the past three times, and the teams that kicked them out all appeared in the fourth pot of this play-off. However, compared with Northern Ireland, the psychological trauma caused by Sweden and North Macedonia is much fresher, and the two teams also have stronger technical strength. Northern Ireland is certainly a good draw for the Italians. If they successfully pass this level, Gattuso and the players will face the winners of Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Neither of these two teams is the most difficult team in their position. The biggest trouble for the Italians is: according to the draw results, they will have to play away from home.

Italians are obviously more familiar with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team coached by Barbaretz has many Serie A players: As Bosnia and Herzegovina's all-time appearance king and top scorer, the 39-year-old Dzeko still plays an important role in the team, scoring 5 goals in this World Cup preliminaries; central defender Muharemovic is an eye-catching new star in Serie A this season. Sassuolo has just renewed his contract until 2031, and the actual plan is to get a transfer fee of 40 million euros from him. In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina also has Atlanta center back Kolasinac in the defense and Roma veteran Tasilovic in the midfield. The strength of this team is not even in various positions, but it still has good combat power. There is also Stuttgart star Demirovic and Dzeko on the front line. In this World Cup preliminaries, Bosnia and Herzegovina performed well, scoring 17 points in 8 games, double-killing Romania, which was close in strength on paper, and finally trailing behind Austria.

Wales, the second team in the play-offs, also finished second in the world qualifying group stage. In fact, they only lost two direct meetings with Belgium and scored 21 goals in 8 games, including a 7-1 victory against North Macedonia, showing full firepower. The Italian defense, which suffered a lot against Norway, may have to face the impact of Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson. Coach Bellamy is the same age as Gattuso, and his fiery temper is even worse. He had the opportunity to pursue the highest honor of the Big Ears Cup as a player, but he witnessed Gattuso's AC Milan win the cup in Athens in 2007 (Bellamy sat on the bench for 90 minutes). If they meet again, will Bellamy have a chance to "retaliate"?

Italy’s “wartime plan”

Cardiff or Sarajevo? Regardless of the script, entering the play-offs for the third consecutive time has made the Italians' nerves very tense. For Italian football in the early spring of next year, the national team is above all else. The Italian Football Association intends to squeeze in a national team training camp in early February, which is expected to be on February 9 (Monday). Players who have finished their league duties first can join on Sunday, while players who do not participate in the Italian Cup quarter-finals can continue to train with the national team on Tuesday. Serie A chairman Simonelli said that the league will support the national team's preparations as much as possible and that each club "overall agrees" with the idea of ​​training.

This is not enough. Gattuso previously expressed the hope that the round of league games before the start of the play-offs can be carried out in advance to give the national team more time to prepare. However, such a request may not be met: the current round of the league is planned to be held from March 20 to 22, but the previous March 16-18 was the European competition day, and it is possible to play Fiorentina in the European Association on Thursday, and also welcome Inter Milan at home in the league. Therefore, if Florence has not been eliminated from the European war by then, their game against Inter Milan will be played as early as noon on Sunday. The Italian internationals of the two teams can then go directly to Coverciano near Florence to report to the national team. In addition, Serie A has a contract with the broadcaster, and any schedule changes must be approved by the broadcaster.

But in any case, Gattuso has no reason and should no longer complain: his team's luck in the play-offs is good enough. Eight years ago, Ventura only lost to Spain in the group stage, and was trapped by the walls of Sweden in the play-offs; four years ago, Mancini was "betrayed" by Jorginho's two penalty kicks, and even if they had not unexpectedly lost to North Macedonia at home in the play-offs, they would have encountered the terrible Portugal later. This time, if something goes wrong again, it will be even more difficult to forgive than the previous two times. Yes, the situation could have been much worse than it is now. Just look at the fortunes of the "play-off expert" Ukraine: As a seeded team like Italy, they will face Sweden in the semi-finals, and will also face the winners of Poland and Albania in the final...