In the end, the cat outwitted Trapattoni and managed to take his Ireland to the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, scheduled for next summer.
And from draw for the groups, which will be held in the late afternoon in Kiev, the fate of Trap and that of Italy could immediately cross. Ireland is in fact in fourth tier, Italy in second.
This positioning of Italy not among the top 4 seeds, could be a problem as well as paradoxically not be. It's a sort of 50 and 50, heads or tails: two of the seeds are the favorites to avoid (Spain and Holland), the other two are the organizing countries, Poland and Ukraine, which with all due respect arouse less fear , even if the second seems a little more insidious.
Ma coach Cesare Prandelli has none of the fears: “I have no thrills for the draw, there are very strong teams but we are serene. We have to be happy and content to be here, where every team is important and dangerous. Italy can play with everyone”.
Instead, it will not be possible for the other Italian "derby" to come out of the urn in Kiev: Capello's England is in fact in the same band as Italy, the second, together with the dreaded Germany and to Russia. Not a small advantage, being sure to avoid Don Fabio and the arrembante German army.
The real dangers, paradoxically, come from the third and fourth bands : suppose Italy manages to avoid Spain or the Netherlands, they could then draw Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the third pot and the always tricky France in the fourth, albeit lower than in the recent past. But never underestimate Les Bleus, who still dream of a rematch for the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship.
For the rest, the third tier features all "affordable" formations, with the necessary precautions: they are Greece, Croatia and Sweden, while the fourth, in addition to Eire del Trap, has Denmark and the Czech Republic.
Italy is at a crossroads: may come out on balanced group: Holland, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic; The dream circle: Poland, Italy, Greece and Ireland; but also the hell group: Spain, Italy, Portugal, France.
