Italy’s 2-0 friendly loss to Austria caps off a miserable 2022 for Roberto Mancini and his squad, who’ll now be left to watch the World Cup from home.
Hopes were high surrounding the Italian national team following their glory at Euro 2020 last year, finally giving Azzurri fans something to smile about after a tough decade of inconsistency and poor results. 2021 ended with a slight slip-up in the World Cup qualifiers, leaving Italy second behind Switzerland, but confidence was high regardless.
Italy’s first game of 2022 was the now-infamous 1-0 loss to North Macedonia in their World Cup play-off clash, confirming their absence from the tournament in Qatar. The result saw the Azzurri miss their second consecutive World Cup, an unthinkable reality a decade ago.
In June, Italy faced off against Copa America champions Argentina in the first ever Finalissima in Wembley, a dejected 3-0 loss. Things didn’t look too positive in the Nations League either and the two wins over Hungry and one over England was somehow enough to book the Azzurri’s spot in the Final Four.
Italy’s friendlies didn’t show any majorly comforting signs and Mancini and his squad will now have to dig deep ahead of their 2023 commitments.
Italy games in 2022
- March 24 – Italy v Northern Macedonia 0-1
- March 29 – Turkey v Italy 2-3
- June 1 – Italy v Argentina 0-3
- June 4 – Italy v Germany 1-1
- June 7 – Italy v Hungary 2-1
- June 11 – England v Italy 0-0
- June 14 – Germany v Italy 5-2
- September 23 – Italy v England 1-0
- September 26 – Hungary- v Italy 0-2
- November 16 – Albania v Italy 1-3
- November 20 – Austria v Italy 2-0
Results: 5 wins, two draws, four losses.