A great Italy has already qualified for the round of 16 with a day to spare. Thanks to the double 3-0 against Turkey and Switzerland, now the third match against Wales serves “only” to assign the first and second position in the group.
Winning, this is obvious, is good on a psychological level and a third success would consolidate the prestige of Italy, now acclaimed among the favorites for the final victory. But, on balance, is it really worth it? Due to the particular formula adopted in this edition (and in the previous one), Italy will still face the second round in the second round second classified of another group.
With a draw or a win, Mancini’s team will be ranked first in the group and therefore would move to Wembley to address the second of group C, which includes Holland, Ukraine, Austria e North Macedonia. It is not yet known who will be the second, but the most likely is Ukraine, a difficult team led by the duo Shevchenko-Tassotti, who evidently boasts a perfect knowledge of our football. But Austria also made a good impression, so let’s forget that first place reserves us a next round on velvet.
EUROPEI: THE CARDS OF ALL THE TEAMS IN THE SPECIAL OF AFFARITALIANI.IT
Once we have passed the round of 16 (and we make all the necessary precautions) we would go to play the quarter-finals in Munich, on July 2, against the winner of group B, probably the very strong Belgium of Lukaku. If he wins, in the semifinals he would have the winner of the “round of death”, which could be France champion of the world O Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, reigning European champion. In the event of a defeat against Wales, however, the Azzurri would pass as the second in the group and then play in Amsterdam against the second in group B: Russia, Finland or Denmark.
After this shift, we would find in the quarters the winner of group C (always the one with Holland, Ukraine and Austria) and in the semifinals a big of the caliber of Spain and England as the main suspects. A decidedly impervious road, which puts the Azzurri in a frankly paradoxical condition: Mancini has relaunched the team by giving it an offensive mentality that always aims to win, without making many reasoning of convenience, but wanting to count on the typical “Italian” opportunism we should be second. What is possible only by losing against Ramsey and Bale’s Wales. Incredible, but true.