It hurt the whole of Italy, as Norway took both the World Cup ticket and a superior victory at the San Siro on Sunday. The world’s best goalkeeper, Donnarumma, went out and apologized to the supporters who had filled the iconic stadium. After the 1-4 loss, the Italian media tried to find an explanation for the total collapse in the last thirty minutes of the match. The explanation apparently lies in San Siro as his home ground.
We let Italian Football-Italia draw the conclusion: “Italy suffered their worst home defeat in 70 years with a 4-1 loss to Norway and thus ended the World Cup qualifying campaign. The result confirms the national team’s poor record when they play at the San Siro.”
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Because this is anything but a lucky path:
“After Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Norway, Italy have now only won three of their last 13 games played at the San Siro. That equates to a win rate of about 23%.”
“Italy have played 13 games at the San Siro in the last 19 years, winning only against Denmark in the 2012 World Cup qualifiers, against England in the Nations League in 2022 and against Ukraine in the 2023 European Championship qualifiers during that time.”
“Six of the last 13 games at the San Siro have ended in a draw and four have ended in defeat. Worryingly, all three of Italy’s last three games at the San Siro have ended in defeat,” says the Italian media.
So there we have the explanation. It was not Norway who were superior in the second half, there is simply a “football curse” resting on the San Siro.
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Surely easier to live with, when Italy is going into playoff matches to qualify for the World Cup.
