DFB opponents in Nations League: Italy starts at the bottom regardless of losses

Italy, the national soccer team, also known as the

- the ears of soccer lovers are ringing just because of the history alone.

Italy was world champion four times and even European champion a year ago.

A year later, in June 2022, you have to get used to completely new sounds, which defender Giorgio Chiellini summed up for his compatriots on Wednesday night: "This is going to be a very difficult time, please help the national team!"

Chiellini was captain of the Azzurri until Wednesday evening, after his 117th cap the 37-year-old ended his career in the national team as expected.

The defender, previously at Juventus, will now join Los Angeles FC for a lap of honor in the US.

Chiellini had imagined his departure differently.

At least not with a substitution at half-time and a "humiliation", as the Italian gazettes unanimously judged.

European champions Italy not only lost the "Finalissima" against South American champions Argentina 3-0 at London's Wembley Stadium, they also made a fool of themselves.

Observers suspect bad things

When the team coached by Roberto Mancini receives the German national team in Bologna this Saturday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Nations League and on RTL) on the first day of the Nations League, there can hardly be any talk of a duel on an equal footing.

"We will be your sparring partners on the way to the World Cup," wrote La Repubblica resignedly.

In a week's time on Saturday, Italy will have to play England, and home observers are also worried about this.

The Italian self-confidence, actually unshakable overall and especially in football, lies in ruins a year after the European Championship triumph.

The decline probably began in the hour of triumph.

It was a big surprise that Mancini managed to form such a quick-witted, fast-paced and rather un-Italian football team, which then also won the European Championship title.

Towards the end of the tournament, the Italians' aggressiveness faltered, the most important tactical trick with full-back Leonardo Spinazzola, who moved up to the attacking line by default, no longer worked after his Achilles tendon ruptured in the quarter-finals against Belgium.

In hindsight, Italy's victory at the European Championship a year ago is more reminiscent of Denmark's 1992 or Greece's 2004 tournament win, when outsiders defeated the competition with absolute solidarity and good ideas.

Except that the outsider in that case was a four-time world champion.

Two humiliations in a row

Three years earlier, Italy had lost participation in the 2018 World Cup, that was zero in the first hour.

The same mishap happened in March this year when Mancini's men lost 1-0 to North Macedonia and also missed the Winter World Cup in Qatar.

Two humiliations in a row for a football nation like Italy, actually unimaginable.

The success of the European Championship therefore does not seem to fit into the general decline in football, it seems more like a statistical outlier today.

"The fairy tale is over," stated the "Gazzetta dello Sport" succinctly these days.

Now there are a whole series of excuses, such as the injury of important regular players such as Marco Verratti, Federico Chiesa, Lorenzo Insigne or Ciro Immobile.

Nevertheless, this week Roberto Mancini summoned 53 talents to a selection course at the Coverciano training center in Florence, because he is aware that the current generation of footballers has reached its limits.

Defender Leonardo Bonucci played adventurously weak against Argentina, director Jorginho, once so confident, lost the ball in midfield.

And an equivalent replacement for the striker Immobile, who is controversial in the national team because it is rarely successful, is not in sight.

"The national team is tired, without self-confidence and without orientation," wrote the "Corriere della Sera".

The Nations League represents a kind of unwelcome future laboratory for Mancini, he will try new forces and must act without regard for losses.

He doesn't really feel the desire for a new beginning.

The coach admitted he was considering retiring after failing to qualify for the World Cup.

"This fresh start will be more difficult," Mancini said.

Now it's starting from the bottom again, once again.