World Cup 2026: Italy-Moldova 2-0. Spalletti: «Unfortunately I didn't make the difference»
REGGIO EMILIA - “Italy! Italy! Italy!”: the hundreds of children crowded in front of the entrance gates of the “city of the Tricolour” stadium chant it, shouting it to the sky, more than two hours before the kick-off of the grotesque and melancholic evening that Italian football offers itself, together with what is (or perhaps it should be) its highest symbol, the National team.
Those chants are a sign that at least someone in that shirt and in that blue still believes in it. He believed in it with passion and conviction - we must give him credit for that - Luciano Spalletti, who was - partly against his will - the absolute protagonist of the evening in Reggio Emilia.
The coach on the bench with his dismissal already made official, the consensual resolution already signed, his gaze fixed on the pitch and a huge lump in his throat, may have pretended not to hear the whistles (not very many, but still ungenerous) coming from the stands when the speaker pronounced his name, at the time of reading the lineups.
It will take a while before it passes, the bitterness of Oslo and the pain of farewell, for him, for our football, for all of us, naively in love with that blue shirt; hoping then that the arrival of Claudio Ranieri will really bring the desired change. We doubt it - and it is good to say it right away - because this is not only the responsibility of the men if we have arrived at this point, but of a system that has marginalized and weakened the National team, undermining its credibility and technical values. But obviously, never underestimate the heart of champions - says the old adage - and Ranieri certainly is a champion, on and off the field.
Caresses and fears - The roar of the stadium, the chants and applause for the Azzurri, the wait for kick-off. Small gestures of affection that mean little, maybe nothing, but that do a lot of good, in these chaotic and brutal days and hours, to our National team.
Ironically, Spalletti relies on a… Ranieri (the Fiorentina captain, immediately a starter in the defensive trio with Bastoni and Di Lorenzo); Dimarco, Ricci, Frattesi, Cambiaso also on the field from the first minute, to try to inject fresh energy into the bloodless eleven of the Ullevaal Stadion. But after ten minutes, Nicolaescu's header to conclude an effective Moldovan counterattack behind Donnarumma chills our blood and soul. The VAR takes care of canceling it for offside and then we go back, albeit with difficulty, to breathing.
In fact, however, we create very little in Avram's area, even if in the 16th minute Ranieri's header hits the crossbar on a free kick by Raspadori; Retegui adds two turns to the modest tally of chances. But in the 40th minute Raspadori strikes, scoring with his right foot to make it one to zero on a cross by Ranieri himself that is blocked by the defense. We don't even have time to enjoy the advantage, that only Donnarumma's big hands say no to Reabciuk's shot, with captain Ionita (in our football for more than ten years, the last year at Triestina) who fortunately kicks the rebound wide. Not to mention Dumbravanu's header, which Dimarco saves on the line. In short, when they come forward, the Moldovans are always dangerous, and this is certainly not good news.
The Bear's footprint - Orsolini for Dimarco and Barella for Ricci: these are the changes with which Spalletti opens the second half. And it is precisely from the first move of the Bologna winger that Cambiaso scores the second goal (but not before another spine-chilling header by Nicolaescu); we are a little quicker and more enterprising, in the 70th minute Frattesi doesn't find the right touch one-on-one with Avram; Maldini and Lucca also come in for Raspadori and Retegui, but we continue to produce little and take too many risks in defence (which in the meantime loses Ranieri, knocked out by a hard tackle with Baboglo and replaced by Coppola).
Another slalom by Orsolini finds Avram ready to rebound. Meanwhile, a goal by Haaland in the second half is enough for Norway to win at home to Estonia. Lucca wastes a header in injury time after a good run by Bastoni, but Coppola works a miracle and saves with a slide on yet another Moldovan opportunity.
The Spalletti cycle ends here, from tomorrow it will be Claudio Ranieri's turn. Best wishes to him, and to all of us, to find as soon as possible the Italy that makes your heart tremble and beat, instead of this disoriented, tired and empty of dreams and desires.
Closing credits – “I was hoping to find a less tired team, and maybe in September it would have been like that; but I continue to believe in this group, in these players. The national team that I leave to my successor? It is this, this group, the difference must then be made by the coach, and I have not been able to make this difference”: this is how he greets Spalletti, in the belly of the “Città del Tricolore”: For him now begins the time of second thoughts, regrets and remorse, waiting for the next bench, the next adventure.
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