Roberto Mancini’s Italy will have to beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal (or Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s Turkey) to go to the 2022 World Cup
CR7 and the Lusitanians were the most feared rival in the playoffs, but bad luck further punished the Azzurri, after the two draws against Switzerland and Northern Ireland that prevented the European champions from directly qualifying for the Cup. World in Qatar.
For Roberto Mancini it really is the moment of truth: from glory to dust there is really a blurred boundary and that is why the coach is playing everything.
Mancini, will we go to the World Cup? Always confident and positive
“If we go to the World Cup? We are always confident and positive, especially in the most difficult moments”. This was said by the Italian national team coach Roberto Mancini to Rai microphones after the draw for the playoffs that will see the Azzurri face North Macedonia in the semifinals and possibly Portugal or Turkey in the final. “Even Portugal would have gladly avoided Italy, the thing is mutual – he added – We’ll go and play. Macedonia? They had an excellent qualifying round, we will have to play a great game and then we’ll see where we go to play the final. “.
The three qualified will come out of the finals among the winners of their respective semifinals. Italy will therefore have to beat North Macedonia at home, to then face the winner of Portugal-Turkey, for a really difficult match, in any case.
GROUP A
Scotland-Ukraine
Wales-Austria
GROUP B
Russia-Poland
Sweden-Czech Republic
GROUP C
Italy-North Macedonia
Portugal-Turkey
Furthermore, by beating Macedonia, Italy would play the final on the field of the winner of Portugal-Turkey
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