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Two days to go and the action finally gets underway. The Under-21 National Team, in camp at the CPO in Tirrenia since Monday 21 September, are ready to set off for Armenia. Tomorrow at 17.00 CEST, the charter flight departing from Pisa will land in Yerevan, the venue for the penultimate Group E match in the qualifiers for the 2027 European Championship in Albania and Serbia. Italy will face the bottom side in the group: Armenia are last and are yet to pick up a point. It is a game to win, before heading to Pescara on 5 October to face Poland (who, in the meantime, host Sweden) with the top spot in the group at stake and direct qualification on the line.
ALL THE CALCULATIONS. The Azzurrini are also in contention to finish as the best runner-up across all the groups, which would also secure a place at the European Championship. At present, Baldini’s side are indeed the best second-placed team, but Greece, Finland and Denmark, above all, are threatening that spot. Beating Armenia and then Poland would render any comparisons with the other groups irrelevant and secure direct qualification. With that in mind, the game against Armenia, and Poland vs. Sweden, which kicks off tomorrow at 18.00 CEST, is particularly important in the race for top spot. Italy are currently behind Poland following their defeat in the reverse fixture, both in the standings (the Azzurrini are three points adrift) and on goal difference (+20 to +21). If the Azzurrini win on 1 October by a bigger margin than Poland’s result against Sweden, Italy would then only need to beat Poland by any scoreline, without having to win by two or more goals, as would be the case today given the current overall goal difference.
NDOUR SPEAKS. All of these calculations put the current situation into perspective, but they will have to wait until after the 90 minutes in Yerevan. ‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm,’ Cher Ndour said from Tirrenia. ‘It’s the first time we’ve had such a long camp and spent so many days together. It’s great because we’ve had the chance to work well ahead of these two decisive games. Armenia will be a difficult opponent because they defend well and stay compact. We’ll have to be good at imposing our rhythm, showing desire and intensity and trying to break the deadlock as early as possible. We have quality in every area of the pitch to take the game to them.’ Taking all three points and then going all out against Poland: that is the mission for Ndour and his teammates. ‘Playing the decisive game at home gives us an extra boost. We’re still disappointed that we lost at their place, but I’m convinced we can do it.
After all, these are the games everyone wants to play, the ones with something at stake. We know it’s entirely in our hands. Baldini always reminds us of that too: we have to focus on ourselves because, with the right quality and spirit, we can beat anyone.’