Building an Azzurri squad for 2022

I don't think it is wrong to give to South America 4 and a half spots (the half, because their 5th placed goes to a playoff with a team from another conference). They do have the quality to justify having 4 or 5 countries there.

Feeling that Europe should have even more spots is, well, Eurocentric. The number of spots for Europe is already very high. Yes, Europe has enough quality to fill those spots with interesting teams, but remember, this is a WORLD cup, so South, Central and North Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania, they all need to be there, too. This is not the Euro. So, I don't complain that South America has 4 and a half spots.

They've proven over the years, by winning several World Cups and being very competitive in several others, that they deserve their spots.

The problem is not with the number of spots. The problem is that we missed two PKs against Switzerland and had draws when we should have had wins.

We failed to qualify directly out of our own incompetence.

Some people here posted stuff that insinuates that FIFA put Portugal and Italy together "because they don't like us." That is ridiculous. It was a random event. There weren't magnetized balls inside the bowls, twisting the results.

We were unlucky to be in path C.

Now we need to take care of business in March. It will be hard, because if we beat Northern Macedonia at home as we should, we'll get the winner of Portugal-Turkey on the road, but that's how it happened in the draft, randomly, no conspiracy theory necessary.

 

I see that Jorginho today equalised for Chelsea against Manchester United from the penalty spot. Incredible.

 

Chiesa, Bernardeschi, Insigne, Pessina, Barella, Donnarumma, Chiellini and Pellegrini: all of the players a yellow card away from suspension from a possible final.

Those that play in the semifinal will have to be particularly careful; I don't think Mancini will risk resting anyone for fear of suspension.

 

I agree. Actually if anything UEFA is probably realizing this was a bad way of deciding things.

There is zero chance that UEFA and/or FIFA doesn't want a World Cup with BOTH Italy and Portugal in it. It just gives UEFA a better chance of winning of their teams winning the WC. Both of those teams offer a realistic shot at winning it all. The other teams from the other paths that will making it, you cannot say the same thing.

Now either the European Champion is going to miss out or the games biggest star is going to miss out. Those teams will have certainly earned it but you have to imagine UEFA doesn't believe this to be an ideal situation.

What they should have done was since there's only 3 spots available put the 12 teams into FOUR POTS instead of Seeded/Unseeded. This would have ensured the top three do not face one another and thus all three of the best remaining teams would have had a chance. Doing this they could have also kept Russia/Ukraine away from one another.

 

Did you mean this?

Pot 1 Portugal 1 Scotland 2 , Italy 3
Pot 2 Russia 4 , Sweden 5 , Wales 6
Pot 3 Turkey 7 , Poland 8 , Macedonia 9
Pot 4 Ukraine 10 , Austria 11 , Czech Rep 12

Or like this?

Pot A Portugal 1 , Scotland 2 , Italy 3 , Russia 4
Pot B Sweden 5 , Wales 6 , Turkey 7 , Poland 8
Pot C Macedonia 9 , Ukraine 10 , Austria 11 , Czech R. 12

 

Obviously what you recommend would have been a better system. I find it incredible that posters in a forum show a lot more common sense than FIFA and UEFA officials.

 

The first. But I assume either would have been better than what they choose.

And with that first you obviously want to keep Pot 1 and Pot 2 teams separate until the finals in each path. So maybe Pot 1 vs Pot 4 and Pot 2 vs Pot 3. Pots 1 and 2 obviously host the first game.

As far as determining who gets the home game for the finals, the highest Pot team remaining should get that benefit IMO. You can do that in this format since there's only one team per Pot vs how you have it now where it's just seeded/unseeded.

Ideally, you'd want a final that is two legged. I personally think it's dumb that the Nations League played any role in this. But IMO anything is better than a coin flip to determine such an important game.

 

Probably not

 

2010: Group stage exit
2014: Group stage exit
2018: Didn't qualify
2022: Didn't qualify?

 

2026 group stage ?

Yes I am a cynic / pessimist too .

Must be an Italian thing. Don't get your hopes up and you won't be disappointed.

How else do you explain how tifosi of Juventus can be found all over the peninsula? Tired of their home team losing all the time. Juventus losing all those CL finals can't be of much consolation. They don't even have that many Italians in the club anymore.

 

You guys will be fine. Portugal is in shambles. Ronaldo getting benched and Messi winning 7 ballon dors.

We will fail to qualify and go back to eating our sardines.

Good luck against Macedonia and Turkey cause you won’t be seeing us.

 

Sometimes I feel as if I'm the worst supporter ever but I think the real problem is that I take it way too seriously and personal, glad I'm not alone lol

 

I thought we were pessimistic

March is going to be interesting...

 

There was a poll by A Bola (one of the major sports dailies in Portugal) more than half believe we won’t survive the playoffs.

Once Ronaldo retires we will
Become
Irrelevant like we have been for
Most of history.

 

Frankly what I fear is that FIFA will want Ronaldo to be part of his last World Cup, and the refs will show a red card to our most essential player within 20 minutes of the match, after having done the same to Turkey.

Paranoia? Not really. After what we saw with the ref in the first game of Milan against Atletico Madrid, a clearly biased, paid-for performance by the ref, I know that corrupt, paid refs are back to soccer, likely because now with crypto-currencies they can get paid without getting caught.

FIFA is a corrupt organization, so I don't really trust them.

Italy doesn't have a major star like Ronaldo. Between not having us, and not having Ronaldo, they will pick Ronaldo.

 

Yes indeed . And the killer is , we won't know anything until June should we make the final.

 

I see no reason to believe why Portugal will be favored to qualify.

If that was the case, why were they not favored against Serbia when they lost the automatic qualification from the group?

 

https://football-italia.net/italian-government-ready-to-cancel-the-growth-decree/

I guess a little bit of good news, will it make a difference?

 

I think it could help but the growth decree started in 2019. Serie A has been getting "less Italian" for more than a decade.

Another striker to keep an eye out is Luca Moro in Serie C with 16 goals in 13 games. Just recently made his first appearance in the U 20 setup and scored a goal there as well. Is he a flash in the pan? Maybe but he's 6'2 and looks pretty athletic as well. We need all of the future options we can get up front.

 

No, we would have had to have won in Belfast by 3 goals (3-0, 4-1 etc.) in order to have qualified after Switzerland won 4-0 against Bulgaria.

 

Doesn't work like that . It's incrementally based in stages directally proportional to other important factors and criteria. This being one of them. You should know that and likely do.

I'm afraid , as it was obvious prior , you're showing again .

I'll leave this here.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/euro-2020-finale-italia-inghilterra.2116236/page-12#post-39740442

 

They are the home team in a one match KO that can't end in a draw and they are of similar caliber. Of course they will be favored in that scenario.

Serbia , which mind you is no push over , easily could win the group as an upset when spread out over the course of 2 years and 8 games. The Swiss just did it to us , no ? Portugal , like us , also has a tendency to allow such things to happen to them when they shouldn't.

One match KOs away in the other teams home stadium with their fans are a different story . No chance at redemption over the next match or over the following round of 7 matches against other teams

Cmon , just be happy England made it