Italy have tough qualifying path

Zurich, Dec. 8: After missing out on the 2018 World Cup, Italy have been handed a challenging path to the

2022 tournament in Qatar. The four-time world champions were drawn in a qualifying group on Monday with Switzerland, who have made it to the last three World Cups and were the highest-ranked team outside of the top seeds.

Italy’s failure in the 2018 playoffs cost FIFA around

$100 million in lost television revenue.

“Only the first-placed teams qualify automatically. I think it will be a fight between us and Switzerland,” Italy coach Roberto Mancini said.

Italy will contest the Nations League finals next year, meaning they have only four opponents in Group ‘C’ — Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

World Cup-holders France, Belgium and Spain are also vying for UEFA’s newest title next year.

France are in Group ‘D’ with Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kazakhstan.

“I’m not going to jump for joy, one always needs to be humble and show respect to all these teams,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

“Obviously, as a seeded team France will be favourites, but we still need to make sure we do deliver,” Deschamps added.

Germany face five opponents in Group ‘J’, but only North Macedonia qualified for the European Championship next year, unlike Romania, Iceland, Armenia and Liechtenstein. “We are going into the race as the big favourites,” said Joachim Loew, who is remaining Germany coach despite recent poor results.

The Netherlands, another powerhouse to miss out on the 2018 World Cup, are in Group ‘G’ with Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar.

Group ‘B’ produced yet more matches between Spain and Sweden, who met in Euro 2020 qualifying and are in the same group at the delayed tournament. “We are tired of playing against each other,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said.