Daniele De Rossi congratulated Sweden’s players after Italy missed the World Cup
Italy’s hopes of reaching 2022 World Cup is now solely dependent on the team’s ability to achieve victory in the European playoffs.
The European Championship 2020 champions finished second in their qualifying group after Switzerland after a 0-0 draw away against Northern Ireland on Monday night.
Italy had to settle for the playoffs last time and those who come from the nation will unfortunately never forget how it turned out.
The Azzurri were beaten 1-0 by Sweden in two rounds at the end of 2017, which meant that they failed to reach a World Cup for the first time since 1958.
It was really a sober time for the Italian national team and the defeat against the Scandinavian outfit signaled the end of an era.
Tiger midfielder Daniele De Rossi – who lost coolly on the bench during the final stages of second place against Sweden – withdrew from international football immediately after the match.
But despite the heartache of missing a World Cup final, AS Roma the legend went out on a high courtesy of the most elegant gestures.
Mr. De Rossi
De Rossi boarded Sweden’s team bus, congratulated the players on a well-deserved victory and even apologized for Italian fans in the San Siro had booed away the away team’s national anthem.
Sweden and Brentford defender Pontus Jansson said then, per Soccer Italy: “He (De Rossi) said well done and apologized for how some of the players behaved in Stockholm, and for how some of the fans booed our national anthem in the return.
DELTA GIVEAWAY
“The whole atmosphere on the bus was like, ‘Wow, did that really happen?’. It was one of the nicest moments in a long time actually, what a damn gentleman.”
Sweden coach Janne Andersson, who is still in charge today, added: “It’s a sport when it’s at its best – you can quarrel with each other on the pitch, it can be a ‘little war’, but afterwards you shake each other. Hands.”
What an absolute legend De Rossi is.
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The 38-year-old is currently the assistant coach of the Italian national team and was a key member of Roberto Mancini’s staff at the 2020 European Championships.
De Rossi will certainly be a busy man in March, when the Azzurri begin their playoff campaign in pursuit of World Cup qualifiers.
Good luck, Daniele.