KJust before Christmas, Italy celebrated again for this sporting year 2021. European football champions, triumphs at the Olympics including two sprinter gold medals, plus further World Cup and European Championship titles: the Azzurri had never given their Tifosi such a successful year. “You made history and swept the whole country with you,” praised Prime Minister Mario Draghi at a recent event by the National Olympic Committee (Coni).
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The winter games in China in February were already being considered there, and the green-white-red festival should continue on snow and ice. In Italy, however, there is also fear mixed in with the enthusiasm for 2022, because just one month after the closing ceremony in Beijing, the country is threatened with a huge brake on fun: the proud and furiously furious football players at the European Championship could be in a qualifying showdown for the second time in a row miss the World Cup.
“What a nightmare”, headlined the “Gazzetta dello Sport” after the selection of national coach Roberto Mancini in November botched the direct qualification for the World Cup in Qatar. “What a misfortune,” wrote the same newspaper after the playoff draw: Italy will have to face their supposedly easy opponents North Macedonia in March at home. In a possible final, however, Portugal or Turkey are waiting abroad. “Hopefully 2022 will be better than 2021,” pleaded coach Mancini, knowing full well what failure in qualification would mean. A humiliation that would quickly make you forget the EM coup in 2021.
“Okay, victory is ours”
And what a great football summer it was! Thanks to refreshing offensive football, the Azzurri delighted their fans and an entire continent. With seven wins in seven games, the team around captain Giorgio Chiellini earned the silver trophy, which it won after a penalty crime against England at Wembley Stadium.
The triumph of the soccer players was followed by the Olympics in Tokyo with 40 Italian medals, more than ever before. The Italians can’t get enough of the golden moments: the 100-meter coup by Marcell Jacobs, who falls into the arms of his compatriot and high jump champion Gianmarco Tamberi while he is running out; on the second sprint victory with the 4×100 meter relay; on the gold of the track four-man after a breathtaking race to catch up in the final against Denmark; of the other victories in walking, sailing, karate or canoeing.
Marcell Jacobs sprinted over 100 meters to gold for Italy at the Olympics in Tokyo.
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Image: AFP
“The Tifosi, and I am including myself there, remember all these successes,” said Prime Minister Draghi. A short time later, the Italian Paralympics team even won 69 medals in Tokyo. Even IOC President Thomas Bach recently congratulated Italy’s athletes on their successes, “the best in history,” as the Coni quoted him.
Green-white-red was also cheered elsewhere: tennis professional Matteo Berrettini made it to the finals in Wimbledon, where he was then defeated by Novak Djokovic. In volleyball, both women and men won the European Championship. Professional cyclist Sonny Colbrelli won the classic Paris-Roubaix after an epic rain race and collapsed at the finish, covered in mud, with tears of joy.
“We have become a superpower in sport,” said the Rome daily “La Repubblica” at some point. “Is there a competition? Are there any Italians? Okay, the win is ours. ”At the time of this comment, the football players were still well on their way to qualifying for the World Cup. But then they got into trouble with four draws in the last five qualifying games and lost the direct ticket for Qatar to Switzerland.
Whether Italy will remain a sporting power can first be seen at the Olympics in China, where, for example, the flag bearer and ski racer Sofia Goggia can become a star of the games. But the new self-image for football qualification is much more at stake shortly afterwards.