Adamo Marinelli
October 10, 2021
The world-record streak has officially come to an end. Italy, the defending European Champions, had held the record for most consecutive games unbeaten at 37.
On October 6, a 2-1 loss at the hands of their rival Spain in the Nations League Semifinal marked Italy’s first loss in over three calendar years. Their last loss came on September 10, 2018, against Portugal in the Nations League.
This is only Roberto Mancini’s third loss as manager of the team.
Italy losing a football game simply does not happen all too often. Their last loss in a competitive match on home soil since 1999.
But against Spain, despite getting several scoring chances, the chips did not land in the Azzurri’s favor.
Leonardo Bonucci was dismissed in the 42nd minute after two extremely questionable fouls that were both marked as yellow cards.
Ferran Torres was the hero for Spain, scoring two incredible goals in the first half.
Italy’s defense wasn’t as physical and controlling of play as they normally are. They didn’t disrupt Spain’s offense and left opponents open in scoring position.
They started the game without Giorgio Chiellini, an all-star and defensive anchor, but that doesn’t change the fact they did not look like themselves. Italy’s defense normally dictates play, controls the time of possession and uses the counterattack to generate offense. That was not the case against Spain.
Spain took an early lead, gained all the momentum, and never looked back. They played their usual ‘ticky-tacky’ style of football. They dominated the time of possession, 75% to 25%, they controlled momentum and handily outshot Italy, by a 13-8 margin. However, Italy had five shots on target to Spain’s four.
Spain, like Italy, is a well-managed team under Luis Enrique. They have a lot of talent at both ends of the pitch and are hard enough to beat at full strength. But when you are playing down by two goals and with only 10 men on the pitch, beating Spain is nearly impossible.
When Spain is winning a match, it makes it even easier for them to follow their game plan and lay back on defense and play keep-away as they are in no urgency to score, unlike their opponents.
Italy, despite being down to only 10 men for the entirety of the second half, played well, generating several scoring chances and preventing Spain from doing any more damage offensively.
Italy ended Spain’s shutout bid in the 83rd minute when Lorenzo Pellegrini scored a tap-in goal which came from an assist from Frederico Chiesa who ran the distance of the field, past two Spain defenders, after Chiellini cleared a Spain corner kick.
Since winning the EUROs a mere three months ago, Italy hasn’t quite looked like themselves in their last four games, winning one, drawing two, and losing one.
Despite their recent struggles, including a blowout loss to Spain, Italy started to right the ship with a pretty convincing 2-1 win against Belgium in the third-place match of the Nations League Tournament. Belgium was without Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard who were both sent home after dealing with muscular soreness following their semifinal loss to France. Italy was without Bonucci who was serving a one-game suspension. Belgium won the possession battle 60% to 40% but Italy controlled the pace of the game, played solid defense, and opened things up in the second half with two nice goals, and never looked back. Belgium outshot Italy 13-12 but Italy had five shots on target to Belgium’s four.
This was an important win for Italy and showed their resilience and ability to overcome adversity after an uncommon loss.
Italy still controls its own destiny in the World Cup qualifiers. Through six games, Italy is three points ahead of Switzerland, which has a game in hand, but Italy has the better goal differential. Italy and Switzerland play each other on November 12. If Italy wins that game, they’re in the World Cup for the first time since 2014.
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