Norway's poker at San Siro: Italy goes to the playoffs in the worst way

After Strand Larsen's 4-1, which made a mockery of the Azzurri's defence, there was only celebration from the Norwegians, who were almost incredulous of their metamorphosis: as soon as they picked up the pace, coming out of the apathy of the first half, they annihilated an Italy that even in the first half seemed to be masters of the field. We are fragile, we cannot stand the tension.

On the day of Jannik Sinner winning the Finals again in Turin, he should be asked to pass on at least an ounce of his warrior spirit to this national team. "We were scared, I apologise to everyone," commented Gattuso dejectedly. "The only positive thing was the first half. We will have to restart from there."

So here we are talking about these damn play-offs. We knew we had to go through, but it hurts even more this way. This system, as abstruse and objectionable as it is, forces us into a double playoff, semifinal and final. We will know our rivals, and the venue of the final, next Thursday 20 November in Zurich.

Thanks to the ranking we are in the first bracket: and therefore in the semifinals on 26 March Italy will play at home, in Bergamo, against one among Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland. In addition to these already certain, it will be necessary to see who will prevail tomorrow in Cardiff between Wales and Northern Macedonia.

Once the first hurdle has been overcome, on 26 March, there will be the final against an opponent that should not be impossible. It remains to be seen whether the final will be played in Italy or abroad. It will obviously make a difference.

Returning to the semifinals, the most dangerous to cross should be Sweden, the team that did not let us go to Russia 2018. However, values change rapidly. Sweden itself, beaten 4-1 by Switzerland on Saturday, is plummeting in overall ratings. But these speeches, made now, leave time to be found.

What will Italy be like in four months? Better not to think about it. In fact, Gattuso will find himself with a team that, after this heavy 4-1 loss to Norway, will still have to be rebuilt.

Now, rightly, we complain about the Azzurri's lacklustre results: but in our football system, who really cares about the national team? Certainly not the clubs, who do their best to give them very little space. We have such a jam-packed schedule that, clearly, the national team becomes the least of the problems. Let's face it: to the managers of our clubs, all caught up in business and algorithms, the prestige of Italian football is an absolutely secondary variable.

Within this framework, weighed down by a continuous search for foreign players that weakens our nurseries, there is also another problem: that of Europe being resoundingly castigated by the final phase of the World Cup enlarged to 48 teams.

The numbers are merciless: in Qatar in 2022 the Old Continent had 40% of the teams (13 out of 22) while at the next Canada-USA-Mexico 2026 it will only have 33% (i.e. 16 out of 48).

Globalisation and planetary enlargement are fine, but European football is still the spearhead of the movement. We are at the top in terms of champions, spectacle, television rights, spectators and stadiums. So why punish it for disproportionately favouring North Africa, Central America and Asia?

In this trend, desired by FIFA president Infantino to broaden his electoral base, Italian football has become the weak link, the crock pot. We have few talented players, little time to train, in a framework of continuous growth of the opponents.

Every time we get beaten, as happened with Sweden and North Macedonia, in play-offs that twice closed the door on us at the World Cup (Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022), however, all hell breaks loose.

Like this time with Norway, the apocalypse is evoked, our glorious history is invoked and the fact that another resounding exclusion would condemn us to 16 years of abstinence. These are all fair and acceptable things, but they do not come to terms with the current situation in Italian football. Poor Gattuso, who in any case tried to put back on his feet a national team half-destroyed by Spalletti, has to make the best of a bad situation, having then to suffer the fierce criticism of ultras, linked to the extreme right, who during the match in Moldova, wished death to the players and managers with banners that even justified the deadly ambush in Rieti on the bus of Pistoia fans after the basketball match.

This is the context in which Rino Gattuso finds himself working. He may not be Guardiola, but he is an honest and passionate coach who always puts his face to it. And who did very well to rebel against the threats of the ultras and to respond in kind to the President of the Senate, Larussa, who had somehow justified them.

We can't be excluded from the World Cup for the third time, we all say in chorus, almost indignantly, as if teams like Sweden, Romania and North Macedonia were the last ones to arrive.

But the real problem is that Italy is no longer that of Bearzot and Lippi. That Italy is long gone. Italy's last time at a World Cup was in 2014, in Brazil, elimination in the first round. When we come to terms with it, looking reality in the face, perhaps we will start to climb back up the slope.