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On Friday and then on Monday next week the men’s national football team plays the last two matches of the qualifying groups for next summer’s European Championships against North Macedonia and Ukraine. Qualification is not at all certain: Italy is currently third in its group behind England, first and already qualified, and Ukraine, second with a 3 point advantage but also one game more than Italy.
The top two in each group will directly qualify for the European Championships, occupying 20 of the 24 available places. The remaining four participants will be decided through the play-offs, in which twelve national teams will participate based on the results obtained in the Nations League, the seasonal tournament organized by UEFA which has replaced most of the international friendlies. If they finish third, Italy can already be said to be certain of the play-offs, as may Croatia, Greece, Israel, Kazakhstan, Holland and Serbia.
To qualify for the European Championships and avoid missing another international tournament – of which they are the holders – after the last two editions of the World Cup, Italy is starting from a comeback but will have every opportunity to do so. In fact, he has two matches to play, including a direct clash, to recover three points from Ukraine, who will only play one. And three points could be enough, given that in the event of a tie, the order in the standings will be decided by direct matches: in the first leg Italy beat Ukraine 2-1. It will therefore be enough to maintain the advantage in head-to-head matches and score at least 3 points in two games. For coach Luciano Spalletti the primary objective is to immediately beat North Macedonia on Friday evening in Rome.
Italy has never had major problems facing Ukraine, having been beaten seven times out of nine matches in which it has never lost. But Monday’s match, which will be played on a neutral pitch in Germany due to the ongoing war, will be a bit of a story in itself, given that the Ukrainians have a particular motivation to obtain qualification for the European Championships, given the period that they are crossing.
As regards North Macedonia, the situation is different. Despite being one of the smallest European national teams, they always manage to put together a decent selection of players, which recently was enough to put us in difficulty. In recent years, Italy’s weaknesses have often been highlighted by the Balkan national team. In 2017, a disappointing draw in Skopje heralded elimination from the World Cup qualification play-offs, and in March 2022 it was again North Macedonia who eliminated us in the first round of another edition of the play-offs. Last September, however, another draw in Skopje complicated the path towards qualification for the European Championships.
For these two matches Spalletti initially called up 29 players, but then had to withdraw goalkeeper Alex Meret, midfielder Manuel Locatelli and defenders Davide Calabria, Rafael Toloi and Alessandro Bastoni due to physical problems. Manuel Lazzari, Cristiano Biraghi and Gianluca Mancini have been called up in their place. The rookies are Andrea Cambiaso and Andrea Colpani, while Alessandro Buongiorno and Jorginho were recalled five months after the last time. Below are all those called up:
Goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)
Defenders Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Alessandro Buongiorno (Turin), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Manuel Lazzari (Lazio)
Midfielders Nicolò Barella (Inter), Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina), Andrea Colpani (Monza), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Jorginho (Arsenal);
Attackers Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Moise Kean (Juventus), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Nicolò Zaniolo (Aston Villa)
– Read also: In Serie A there are no longer “cycles”
2023-11-16 10:42:35
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