Italy’s third place in the Nations League. From young people and from the Church, a signal for the future

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We are in summer. We’re going on vacation soon. Want to see the glass half full? But yes, let’s see it, like when at the end of the school year the teachers raise a mark for all the kids so as not to depress the worst and give a good boost to the best. And so the parents are finally happy too. And perhaps also the Minister of Education and Merit, Valditara.

The same for the Italian national team that yesterday, in the consolation final against the Netherlands (3-2 for the Azzurri after almost ten minutes of added time!), finally struck a blow. Let me be clear: nothing stratospheric, we haven’t returned the Wembley lions, winners of the European Championship two years ago, but neither have the dead cats who lost to Spain in the second half. For the consolation prize, for third place in the Nations, Roberto Mancini did what all Italians (but it’s easy from home…) had been asking of him for some time: give space to young people, to the path of renewal, even at the cost to make mistakes, or to fall into some naivety. After all, “long militancy” is not always synonymous with quality and experience. There is an age for everything.

Bonucci’s mistake, against the Spaniards, was in fact doubly disastrous: both for the prestigious history of the Juventus defender and for the national team, which risks shipwreck even more when it sees one of its pillars fall. All the great coaches of the past did it, but then an insurmountable limit arrives. And if that umbilical cord can’t be severed, then the technician himself better step aside. We know that football is by nature ungrateful. Where have Spalletti’s nostalgics gone? And those of Paolo Maldini? Vanished into thin air, all now attracted like mad moths by the new sirens of the Market.

Mancini certainly won a European Championship, he put together a string of 37 games without ever losing, but Mancini’s Italy failed to go to the World Cup in Qatar by being eliminated by Macedonia. A stain that will remain indelible given that the Azzurri themselves had been the rulers of the European Championship. In short, whoever does not change is lost. Don’t psychologists and mental coaches tell us this every day? So against Holland, despite ups and downs and various smudges, Italy has finally shown that it’s not true that they are good abroad, that we too have young players who, given the right conditions, can grow and launch a sign of hope for the future, that is when we go to play for the slippery Euro 2024 qualifiers in Germany, having to defend the title of European champions.

Devastating start for the Azzurri

Against the Netherlands we got off to a great start, throwing two devastating punches in fifteen minutes against the Orange team, who are good at dribbling, but soft as butter when you’re serious. The first goal (scored by Dimarco) was beautiful because it involved the whole blue novella vague. The toy soldiers are all there: Gnonto, Frattesi, Rategui and Raspadori, who offers his heel to Dimarco who drives into the opposite corner with his left. All good, all very fast. And even when the Dutch, with their stubborn possession of the ball, get close to Donnarumma, here comes the doubling of the blues: Dimarco always pushes to the left and in the following hit and hit the rebound ends up with Frattesi who punishes the oranges again. Well, at this point some limitations of Italy emerged: the lack of personality in handling the ball, the too many inaccuracies especially in the second half, when the Dutch coach Koeman overturned the team with more incisive grafts. A note that can be made to the Azzurri is that of the lack of personality in midfield. Verratti is better at marking than setting. Even Cristante often flounders. Excellent signals instead come from the defense where Acerbi and Bongiorno keep a good guard.