Italy is European champion of American football, a trophy that has been missing for 34 years

Italy won the European American Football Championship. For 34 years, the Italy of American football has been waiting for this moment and finally in Malmoe, Sweden, the “Blue Team”, as the national team is called, was able to raise the trophy to the sky. Sweden beaten by 41 to 14 in a match dominated from the first minute, played in a historic stadium and in front of a large audience.

Italy decides to go on offense. The start is rocket, thanks to Tamsir Seck who brings the kick off in the middle of the field and a foul by the Swedes who immediately throws us on the opponent’s 35 yards. The first TD arrives immediately, thanks to a race from the native Mike Gentili. Matteo Felli converts on football and Italy goes on 7 to 0. The first offensive drive of the Swedes hits the blue defense wall, and the Italian attack restarts from their 21 yards. The first big play of the match arrives at the snap: Luke Zahradka throws a bomb deep into the safe hands of Jordan Bouah, who arrives close to the red zone. And it will be Bouah himself who will lead the Azzurri to double with another beautiful reception from 15 yards. Felli misses the additional kick, after the ball was 5 yards back due to a foul and the score settles on 13 to 0 for Italy.

Sweden tries, but the blue defense doesn’t concede anything and also the second drive of the Swedes ends with a point. At the first Italian snap, however, Simone Alinovi receives and then loses the ball in the impact against the defender, recovered by the Swedes for the first turnover of the match. The Swedes take courage, who now use the momentum to grind the game and enter the opponent’s half. The veteran quarterback of the Swedish national team, Philip Juhlin, has managed the games well, but he sees his efforts thwarted by a series of fouls that put his attack back. 4 attempts are not enough to try to go to the endzone and the Italian offensive department returns to the field when the first quarter of the game ends. Sweden is nervous, the referee flags fly in favor of Italy, which is once again extremely effective both by land and by air and crosses the Swedish endzone for the third time with Simone Alinovi. This time Felli is precise between the posts: 20 to 0. Attack, defense, special team: Italy has been perfect up to now, superior to the opponents in every sector of the field. The first turnover for the Azzurri comes thanks to Giacomo Insom, who literally tears the ball from the hands of the man he was marking, returning it to his attack, an attack that after a few minutes drops the poker and sends Mike Gentili to TD again for the 26th. 0, which then becomes 27 to 0 with Felli’s additional point.

The blue defense continues to block the way for their opponents, unable to find a key to interpreting this match, which seems to have only one direction. The “Tsar” continues to give a show, with precise throws on the many targets available: Alinovi, Bonanno, Bouah, Di Tunisi. Everything runs beautifully in Casa Italia and, when there are less than 2 minutes to half time, the gap widens: Alinovi receives the ball in the endzone, Felli transforms and goes on 34 to 0. With 3 seconds to play on the clock, the Sweden tries to move the score with a field goal, which however fails and goes to half time without further jolts. The offensive statistics for Italy speak for themselves: 276 yards gained, of which 214 from a throw from a “Tsar” in great form: 14 passes completed out of the 16 attempted for him and 3 TDs. The teams return to the field after the break, where space and visibility have also been given to the youth teams of the Swedish Federation. Coach Davide Giuliano keeps the formations unchanged, while the Malmoe Stadium also shines a beautiful sun, to make this day triumphant for our colors. Sweden starts in attack, ends the drive with a point but then a mess of the Italian special team returns the ball to the yellow-blue in the full red zone. Sweden did not miss the opportunity and went into touchdown with Filip Wetterberg on a cue from Juhlin, and then transformed by two points with Filip Jonsson: 34-8.

Inertia seems to have passed on the side of Sweden, whose defense now puts pressure on the blue attack, manages to ‘sack’ Zahradka and make us lose a lot of ground. But the Italian offense does not lose heart and is Alinovi show, with a couple of receptions that bring Italy back into the opponent’s field. A foul cancels Bouah’s TD reception and at the next Tsar bomb comes the interception that rekindles the enthusiasm of the home fans. It is the defense of the Blue Team to bring the Swedes back to their feet on the ground, once again closing every hole and stopping the reaction of the opponents when the third half of the game ends. The blue coaching staff chooses to run the stopwatch, opting for a series of races, but not too productive from the point of view of gaining the field. Every down is played, but 4 are not enough to get back to the endzone and the ball goes back to the Swedes. 8 minutes from the end of the game, Italy scores again, after coming close to the endzone thanks first to a great pass by Zahradka on Alinovi, and then to the run of Nick Diaco, who started in quarterback position. Felli kicks perfectly between the posts and Italy is ahead 41 to 8. Sweden responds with a Juhlin TD pass on Mattias Gauthier, when there are less than 4 minutes left in the game. Conversion attempt fails: 41-14. Reilly Hennessey takes the place of Luke Zahradka in the control room, there is room for a field goal attempt (unsuccessful due to a mistake in the snap) and with 1’30 to play the party begins in the stands and in the sideline.

Italy literally dominated this final, demonstrating a technical but also physical superiority that probably no one expected. The Italian national football team gives our country yet another joy of this extraordinary 2021 and is crowned European Champion for the third time in its history, while automatically qualifying for next year’s World Championships.

SUBSCRIBE HERE TO THE ALL GENOA, ALL SAMP AND ALL SPICE NEWSLETTERS