The good news is that this international window is over. Italy will now have three months to look in the mirror and try to understand what the heck is going on with the Azzurri, as a new coach take the reins. 

Tonight, they beat Moldova 2-0 at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia in their second Qualifier game on the road to World Cup 2026, the last with Luciano Spalletti in charge – yes, only in Italy can a manager sit in the dugout after the announcement that he was sacked has been made public. Pure calcio nonsense. 

Those hoping for a redeeming performance after last Friday’s unacceptable setback in Oslo – which costed Luciano Spalletti his job – were left disappointed. It was, frankly speaking, a barely acceptable showing on the Azzurri‘s part. Perhaps, something less than that. 

Italy needed to win and to score as much as they could to reduce their goal difference versus Norway. They took all three points on offer and, in these challenging times for the Nazionale, perhaps we should just be happy with that. As much as we wanted to be optimistic, there were very few chances that an Italian side whose confidence is shattered and physical condition dreadful would put four or five goal into Moldova’s net.

One would hope that the Azzurri would at least put up a gritty, brave performance, if only to honor Spalletti’s last dance. No chance. The eye of the tiger was nowhere to be seen. The match at the Mapei Stadium certified, once more, that Italy’s problems go way beyond Luciano Spalletti’s guidance. The Azzurri looked exhausted, apathetic, helpless.

They conceded loads of scoring chances to a Moldovan side that, if truth be told, deserved to net at least one. Once upon a time, the BBC. Italy’s unshakable defense. Tonight, the Azzurri‘s backline looked careless and Gigio Donnarumma once again had some work to do to keep the Nazionale afloat. 

In the end, the evident gap in quality – some of the Moldovan players, like Messina defender Daniel Dumbravanu, play in the Italian Serie C – made a difference, as Giacomo Raspadori opened the scoring for the Azzurri on 42 minutes and Andrea Cambiaso made it two a few minutes after the restart. But that all came after Moldova drew first blood, only to see their opener disallowed by the VAR on grounds of offside.  

The fans at the Mapei Stadium initially tried to encourage the Azzurri but their chants gradually died down. In the middle of the second half, when it was by now clear that this was going to be yet another forgettable performance for the Italians, silence had fallen on the stands of the Mapei. It was unreal.  

Enough now. Time to restart with a new project. Whoever is going to take the reins has a gargantuan task ahead, one where he has much more to lose than to win. Good luck to him. We don’t envy him.