The illusion lasts a long time. Then the blue hopes melt into the cold Belfast night. Italy has never won here. Not even this time: 0-0. Mancini, like Ventura 4 years ago: The playoffs’ nightmare is that Qatar will go to the World Cup in a year.
Switzerland beat Bulgaria 4-0: All goals in the second half, plus two, were eliminated after dominating the first half. Swiss Okafor (48 ‘), Vargas (57’), Eaton (72 ‘) and Froeler (91’) were the targets.

The moral of the story is that ItalMancini must go through the nightmare of the playoffs in March, where the garden of the Assyrians may not be as sweet as Lucio Batisti’s famous song. On Friday the 26th we will know the names of our opponents, be it CR7, Ibra, Ramsey with his Wales, or Austria, or the Netherlands or Turkey, Russia and Scotland. In short, a good crawl to peel.
Irish nights give you no shocks. Unpacking the green wall is not easy. Especially when opponents park coaches in front of their own penalty area. Yes sir, 10 men behind the ball line, not jokes. Yet 8 ′ de Lorenzo’s cross-shot pierces the opposing goalkeeper. Northern Ireland waits and starts again, but parts of Gigio Donarumma are never in danger.

Half an hour before the insignia attempt, Peacock-Farrell blocked a weak round shot.
The same insignia that Berardi primed at 37 puts the goalkeeper weakly out of a good position.
Recovery. European champions who do not win a one-on-one fight will have to pay for even the gold. Insigne tries again (48 ‘), but forget its diagonal. Two minutes later Donarumma catches the shock up in a close shot from Sevilla. Chisa (63 ‘) hits the target with a round finish. But Italy’s game ends here. In the 90s, Bonucci also saves on the line after Gijio’s careless exit. Worse than that, the qualifying round could not end. Second behind Switzerland. Sigh …

Both penalties passed by Jorge Gino during the round trip to the Olympics with the Swiss star were like rocks. At the end of the match in Belfast, Amaro Mancini said: “Unfortunately we will be forced to the playoffs, but we will go to Qatar and maybe even win the World Cup – he keeps repeating – it was not easy here with Ireland. No. Two chances were missed between the two matches against Switzerland and the match against Bulgaria in Florence, and yes, three wins were missed, but unfortunately, four years later we are back with the Russian play-off roulette.