Honestly, I almost choked on my coffee when I saw the headline “Italy qualify for the world cup!” this morning. Seriously? After the whole mess last time? Missing out entirely? Yeah, I was as shocked as anyone. So, right then, I dropped my mug and decided I had to figure out exactly how they pulled this off. Let me walk you through what I found.
First thing I did? Dived straight back into the disaster that was the World Cup playoffs last time against North Macedonia. Man, that still stings. That loss haunted them – big time. It was like this massive shadow hanging over the whole team for ages. Made me realize this qualification wasn’t just about winning games now; it was about overcoming that giant failure.
Figuring Out Their Weird Journey
- Step 1: Actually Facing That North Macedonia Ghost. I started by pulling up their recent qualifying group results. Looked rough at first. Barely won. Struggled to score sometimes. Felt familiar, right? But then I noticed something: instead of crumbling under that pressure, they kinda… leaned into it? Like the players kept talking about “learning from it,” using it as fuel. Not pretending it didn’t happen. Weirdly, that seemed important.
- Step 2: Stopping the Goals Against… Mostly. Okay, so looking at their matches the last couple of years, that rock-solid defence wasn’t always there. They did tighten things up when it really mattered towards the end of qualifying. Key saves here, Di Lorenzo blocking everything there. Sometimes won games just by not conceding. Still shaky moments? For sure. But way better than before.
- Step 3: Getting That One Damn Goal. Goals were a problem. Big problem. Scrolling through stats, seeing all those draws… ugh. Frustrating! But then, BAM! Frattesi pops up with a header against Ukraine. Or Scamacca finds the net somehow. Didn’t need a hat-trick every game. Just got that single, messy, vital goal when it counted. Found a way.
- Step 4: Finding New Guys to Lean On. This part was cool. Remember looking at the squads? Less reliance purely on the old guard. Spotted players like Dimarco working his ass off at left-back. Retegui showing flashes upfront. Frattesi suddenly looking vital in midfield. Mancini wasn’t afraid to chuck them in, and some really delivered pressure moments.
- Step 5: Surviving That Must-Win Night Against Ukraine. Oh man, watching that game… tense doesn’t cover it. Remember checking the line-up? Barely recognised a couple names! But honestly, they just dug in. Defended like crazy people. Got lucky sometimes? Yeah, maybe. Mudryk missing that chance? Whew. But you know what? They held it. Didn’t need a win. Just needed not to lose. And they scrapped it out, 0-0, parked the bus when they had to. Gutted it out.
So yeah, putting it all together like that… it clicked. It wasn’t fancy. No cruise control. They didn’t suddenly become Brazil ’70. Nope. It was dragging themselves out of a giant hole. Sorting the defence just enough. Scraping crucial goals from anywhere. Leaning on fresh legs when the old engines sputtered. And then, crucially, surviving that single, enormous, nerve-shredding pressure cooker of a final game where one slip meant disaster again. It was ugly, gritty, and totally necessary after what they went through. Now I get it. Now I really see the path they had to walk.