The nightmare has come true. We'll watch the World Cup in Russia on TV but not as we're used to: no mass rallies in front of giant screens, no hardcore cheering regardless of one's club affiliation, no blue shirt and tricolor painted face.
The most important football competition won't be our business for the second time in history, but if the first had a rather well-founded justification (it was 1958 and the movement was still shaken by the tragedy of the Grande Torino) this one simply doesn't have it .
We failed on the pitch and not only in the playoff against Sweden, indeed the failure to score a single goal in 180 minutes against such a modest national team must, paradoxically, reassure us: it means that we didn't deserve it, period that's all, and that complaining makes no sense. However, the regret remains for having managed the legacy left by Conte very badly, both on a technical level (a quarter-final at the European Championship lost only on penalties against the great Germany, moreover after beating Belgium and Spain) and on an emotional level (the Italians were in love with the national team again after years of lean), that's why the protagonists of this fool,
not only sporting, however, they will have to pay handsomely.
The first will be Gian Piero Ventura, whose ousting (exemption or resignation, it doesn't matter) is only a matter of hours, the second could (should) be Tavecchio, even if here it will depend more than anything else on the usual political balances in which football has us sadly used to it now. The failure to qualify for the World Cup cannot be explained only by the 0-0 draw at San Siro, although there are numerous mistakes there too.
Ventura has decided to face Sweden with an incomprehensible 3-5 2, both in terms of men (Gabbiadini starting in place of Belotti, Darmian and not El Shaarawy, Insigne on the bench for the whole game) and strategy (what's the point of crossing again and again against whoever takes the lead?!), choices that were not even shared by the players, as evidenced by De Rossi's mutiny at the end of the match. “What do I do, you have to put Insigne, we don't have to equalize” the DDR outburst caught on cameras, testifying to a disintegrated and disheartened group, to be refounded starting today.
In fact, now it's time to act and this time it won't be enough to change the coach. Of course, a big player on the bench would be a godsend but woe to
stop there: when a building collapses you have to rebuild it from the foundations, not give it a varnish for the photographers. Buffon, Barzagli and De Rossi will leave, Chiellini will probably do the same: heavy names, both on the pitch and in the locker room. The void will be enormous and will have to be filled with intelligence and planning, so head down and pedal. Because the World Cup in front of the TV shouldn't bring us down, but give the right anger so that something like this never happens again.
