Israel-Italy: still a Slovenian in the middle, last precedents chilling
After the goleada against Estonia, Italy returns to the pitch for a crucial challenge against Israel. The match, valid for Group I, will be played at 8:45 p.m. in Debrecen. It will not be just any match: it weighs on the standings and has important extra-football implications.
The day after the elimination from the European basketball European Championship suffered, at the hands of Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, by the national team coached by Gianmarco Pozzecco (who resigned at the end of the match), the soccer match to be played on the neutral Hungarian court will be directed by Slovenian Slavko Vincic, assisted by Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic. The fourth man will be David Smajc, while there will be two Germans at VAR.
The 45-year-old from Maribor has already refereed Italy six times and the balance is a perfect parity: for our side came three wins but also three defeats. The last three challenges with him have all ended badly for the Azzurri. The most recent precedent is from Nov. 17, 2024, a 3-1 defeat against France in the Nations League. A few months earlier, at the European Championship, Italy lost 1-0 to Spain. And in 2023, also in the Nations League, another loss to the Red Furies in the semifinals (2-1).
The last Azzurri success under Vincic’s direction was in the 2020 European Championship (played, however, in 2021 as we all remember), when Roberto Mancini’s Italy beat Belgium in the quarterfinals.
