Euro 2022 winner Alessia Russo on making history, inspiring a generation and that viral backheel goal.
“If we have a goal, it should not be to get into the next World Cup!”
That was the way Totti, the former Liverpool, Juventus and AC Milan midfielder, felt about the team’s qualifying hopes for the 2018 World Cup. The Rossoneri were two points off second but there was a three-goal deficit to overcome in the playoff to go and qualify for Russia 2018. And Totti wasn’t exaggerating. Juventus had only two players in the squad that had played for both Italy and Italy at senior level and the entire squad that had played for both Italy and Italy at youth level.
In the wake of the 2-0 win over Japan in their last World Cup qualifier, there was palpable feeling in Serie A that Totti’s words were not an exaggeration.
The Rossoneri were in dire need of an individual goal back home and that’s why they went to the well and called up the man who scored in Italy’s first World Cup in 1930 and in their second, 1974 World Cup. It must be explained here that there have been three Rossoneri World Cup winners: the first, Gino Marchetti, in 1930; the second, Franco Baresi, in 1970; and the third, Alessandro Costacurta, in 1990.
Costacurta’s goal in the final against England put an end to an eight-year period where Argentina had the first World Cup win in their history. With Argentina making the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final in 1990.
The current squad was in a dire need of an individual goal at the end of last season as Italy was battling for a Europa League qualification spot.
There were a few players in the squad that had played professionally for both Italy and Italy at senior level and the entire squad that had played for both Italy and Italy at youth
