From today onwards, there is no more joking. From today, those who make mistakes are out and only the length of the tribulations changes. Ninety or one hundred and twenty minutes plus – praise be to God – possible recovery. And above all, woe betide anyone who stops to do calculations. And thank goodness, because as widely demonstrated in this first part of Euro 2024, we are not very good at doing calculations and, on the other hand, we are already in the top four in the European championship of life complication.
The turning point
Just to get an idea of how much the climate has changed – even within the blue “bubble” – as the match against Switzerland of the suspicious coach Murat Yakin approaches, on the Italian side yesterday no one mentioned that difference in complexity anymore – indeed, decidedly curious – between one side of the round of 16 draw and the other, with all the strongest teams on one side. We sit on the wrong side, to quote Bertolt Brecht, because all the other seats are (already) occupied. And that’s fine. Because Switzerland is certainly not an easy opponent. The “Italian” players under Yakin say it, their talent and his path say it.
But first there is Italy to do, and after trying everything, the coach seems to have cast off. And perhaps that goal by Zaccagni in the last second of the last minute of injury time, has unlocked the Ct first of all. Who probably today, for the first time, will say goodbye to one of his pawns who seemed indispensable, finally giving a break to a dull Jorginho, who together with Di Lorenzo, has been the disappointment of the Azzurri up to now. In place of Jorginho, it is time for Fagioli. A choice that Spalletti signs with blood, speaking of courage the day before making the lineup official.
Translated, beyond the interpretations of the conspiracy theorists, it would mean that Spalletti would take on the role of Don Abbondio at the last moment (“One cannot give oneself courage” said the poor country curate, absolving himself).
The infirmary
The rest of the Italian team – there is no pact here, the coach can rest easy – will be decided by the national team’s medical staff in the end. Because on the eve of this do-or-die match, it was the coach himself who read the medical bulletin: Dimarco, also due to the risk of his use against Croatia, will not make it. And Bastoni is also in doubt, struggling with a sore throat and fever. The Inter centre-back’s condition will be monitored until the very end. If he doesn’t make it, everyone is confident that Alessandro Buongiorno will be used in his place.
Even if, against a team like Switzerland which has so far shown itself to be very physical, the use of Federico Gatti could prove useful but in recent days he has never been deployed among the starters and would therefore be an absolute novelty. But today’s game could really turn out to be the game of novelties, the game of courage, the opportunity to show, to the team of the neutral nation par excellence, that we no longer want to be in the middle, we want to be on the side of those who want to reaffirm the role of ‘Italy in Europe. And this time, with good reason, we are talking about football and certainly not politics.
The opponent
The suspicious Murat Yakim with his match analysts’ reports has actually been quite predictable so far, at least from a tactical point of view, with a three-man defence with Schar, Akanji and Rodriguez called upon to act in protection of Inter’s Sommer between the posts.
In midfield, on the left wing, Stergiou will probably play in place of the suspended Widmer, but it will be in the middle of the field that the best duels will be seen, with Freuler, Xhaka and the “Bolognese” Aebischer, who scored in the match against Hungary, the almost eternal Shaqiri, while Vargas and Embolo will play forward.
In truth, even in this European Championship, a bit like Spalletti, Yakin also tried everything up front. It’s called rotation and sometimes it’s called coach indecision. They are still choices. And only at the final whistle of Polish referee Szymon Marciniak will we know if these choices were right and if that stadium that saw us triumph eighteen years ago will be waiting for us again this year, for the final act.
