Volleyball girls launch the blue sport. Tonight Israel-Italy: winning is mandatory

A great little masterpiece, to have climbed onto the roof of the world after 23 years, which adds to the gold at the Paris Olympics and is a reminder that our country is not always to be trifled with.

One more thing should make us proud: that in addition to volleyball, now the national sport of Italian women, all Italian women's sport stands out in terms of results and popularity. It is increasingly leading and driving. In athletics, swimming, skiing, gymnastics, even cycling and football. It is not a competition between the sexes, but it should be remembered that at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 there will officially be that famous overtaking (women 50.7%, men 49.3%) that has lasted for more than a century because the first Olympics in Athens (1896) was reserved for males only. Another world, not to be regretted. And in Los Angeles, the Italian girls, who a year ago in Paris won more golds than our boys, (7-3), will certainly be in the front row to remind us that in just a few years there has been a magnificent revolution that will only be completed, however, when Italian sportswomen also reach the top of the clubs, almost always led by men, almost always elderly, like the 75-year-old president of the Italian Olympic Committee, Luciano Buonfiglio.

Tonight then, on the neutral pitch in Decimbren, Hungary (20.45), Rino Gattuso's new Italy will play against Israel after having soundly beaten (5-0) on Saturday in Bergamo the not extraordinary Estonia, something that we must remember frankly so as not to risk getting too big-headed. True, the way we had sunk into the abyss of depression, five goals and some healthy enthusiasm can only do us good. But it is better not to exaggerate with compliments since with Israel, ahead of us by three points (Norway 12, Israel 9, Italy 6) the stakes will be much higher: because this first challenge (the second in Udine on 14 October) could already be decisive for qualification to this famous World Cup that in the last two editions (2018 and 2022) we have only seen on television. Which is not good not only for teenagers, who have never been able to cheer for the national team, but also for us poor boomers who, fortunately, have experienced better times with the Azzurri team. If we then add that Italy's last time at a World Cup was in 2014 in Brazil, where we were eliminated in the first round, you will understand how difficult, and emotionally complicated, the task is for Rino Gattuso, coach chosen in the end by exclusion given that before him Claudio Ranieri and many others (Pioli, De Rossi and let's forget the unacceptable Mancini) had stood down, sniffing the danger at the gates (just look at how poor Spalletti, downgraded from top of the class to pathetic visionary, ended up being sacked).

To say that the challenge with Israel, loaded with so many extra-football aspects, is 'decisive' is perhaps even too much. Let's say it is important because it can give us the second partial place in the group behind Norway, opening up virtual access to the play-offs in March. To go directly to the World Cup, however, we would have to win all the next five matches, including the one with Norway, which will be played on Sunday, 16 November. The problem is that there is also a goal gap (four) with Haaland's team, so in short, the road will be all uphill.

Bringing comfort, however, is the resurgence of the forwards. In Bergamo, real bombers were finally seen in action (Retegui, Kean and Raspadori) who, in addition to playing well, unleashed hell shooting from all sides. It had been a long time since, with all these impractical false nines, we had seen such a piercing Azzurri front line, and also one of good hope, given that Retegui (26 years old) is the oldest.

With Israel, Gattuso may not be so nonchalant by immediately putting in two pure bombers. He might prefer to opt for an extra midfielder, but the spirit of the sanguine Rino has certainly paid off, taking away the ugly feeling that we have become the world's worst. Our league has not been the best for a long time, but it is also true that no less than seven Azzurri, including champions like Donnarumma and Tonali, play abroad. There is evidently some reason for this. We will no longer be the historic national team of Paolo Rossi and Zoff, or of Del Piero and Buffon, but neither will we be that rumpled troop slapped around by Norway.

One credit must be given to Gattuso: he has brought football back to its due simplicity, especially in the Azzurri where you cannot try and try a thousand schemes. With his good-guy physicality, Gattuso has given a wake-up call to a group of footballers more tattooed than determined. Gattuso stirs, shakes you up, pats you on the back that are worth more than a thousand analyses. Someone try to say whether Ringhio is a 'player' or a 'resultist'. Better not, you never know. The only real problem, between now and Italy-Norway, is that Gattuso can never make a mistake. Not even with Moldova. Let's remember that, as we were also thrown out by North Macedonia in passing.

Ps: But one cannot forget, playing against Israel, what is happening in Gaza. 'We are for peace,' said Gattuso. Surely he is, who isn't. The Israeli players are certainly not responsible for what is happening. But it is time for football, and its protagonists, to stop putting their heads in the sand. Expressing an opinion, without lashing out at opposing athletes, is permitted by the Constitution. Instead, comfortable opportunism is preferred, forgetting that sport, even if it has its own rules, is not a world apart.