TIRANA, March 28 – Albania’s Italian coach Christian Panucci has come under fire over the national side’s humiliating 1-0 home loss against Norway in the first 2018 test ahead of next September’s kick off of the Nations League, a tournament that largely replaces friendlies but which will also play a major part in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign by deciding the final four places via play-offs.
Albania produced one of its worst performances of the past few years in this week’s March 26 friendly as it failed to have any shots on target and were lucky to get away with a narrow loss only thanks to Italian Serie A Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha who turned a hero with several saves.
Eros Grezda, the 22 Osijek winger in the Croatian championship was among the few who posed some threat to the Norwegian defense while Armando Sadiku, the now Levante striker in the Spanish top league produced only one header that went close in the 65 minutes he played.
Two new midfielders tested by the Italian coach proved a failure while Albania’s defense left a lot to be desired with key players of the spectacular Euro 2016 campaign when Albania made its first ever major appearance at an international competition not in their best shape after having lost their places in their own clubs’ starting lineups.
The disappointing performance came against Norway, an opponent on par with Albania, who in the March 2018 FIFA rankings ranked 58th out of 206 national sides globally, only one place ahead of Albania and came to Tirana following a 4-1 home win against Australia while Albania chose to play a single friendly in order to better prepare for its first 2018 test.
This is the first time Panucci, a 44-year old former renowned AC Milan and Real Madrid defender with little coaching experience, has come under fire for his tactics since mid-2017 when he replaced compatriot veteran Gianni De Biasi who led Albania for five years and managed to take them to a historic first ever European championship final stage.
Astrit Hafizi, who served as Albania’s coach from 1997 to 1999 and faced Norway in the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign managing to get a 2-2 away draw, said Albania produced a disappointing performance and players who don’t play with their own clubs cannot be in the starting line-up.
“We gained nothing from this game. The national side played one of their poorest ever matches and the coach reacted poorly. Our national side left no mark. The opponent studied our flaws. They saw we are aggressive but can’t finalize and that we get tired in the second half,” Hafizi told a local sports TV.
“We made it to the European championship but Albania has now lost its surprise effect. We now have to play as a mature team but can’t achieve that as we lack ball possession,” he added.
Shkelqim Muà§a, who has coached several Albanian clubs, also slammed Albania’s performance against Norway.
“We saw nothing positive in any respect. It’s a pity that the team don’t even have the right motivation because that was one of the games that could serve the group for the future,” said Muca.
“Both the attack and the defense had nothing in common compared to the previous games. Some of the players who were fielded don’t deserve to wear the national side jersey and the coach should be more convinced of the players he calls up,” Muà§a added.
He also criticized the poor performance of Mergim Mavraj, the Hamburger defender and Arlind Ajeti, the Crotone defender in the Italian Serie A, both of whom have lost their places in their club’s starting lineups as their teams face relegation threats.
Redi Jupi, a former Albania U-21 coach said Panucci’s mistake was in compiling the 24-man list of players called up for the national side’s friendly.
“That was the poorest match we played. We can’t play good football, get good results and promote players internationally at the same time. It was a shock as everybody was waiting for good results, but learned that the team had problems,” said Jupi.
Criticism on Panucci comes after a surprise victory Albania claimed last November in an away friendly with Turkey whom they beat 3-2 as the national side played in 10 men for most of the time.
Panucci assumes responsibility
“We knew about the danger, but we would have never played like this if was a qualifier. I don’t want to make excuses and I take the responsibility. But when players such as Ajeti, Mavraj and Sadiku don’t play and Roshi has just started playing and is not yet in Turkey’s shape, then the situation is completely unfavorable because there are many players who don’t play with their own clubs,” said Panucci.
Albania’s key striker of the past few years, Armando Sadiku, has been having a tough time during the past year after leaving Switzerland and playing for half a season with Poland’s Legia Warsaw before moving to Spain’s Levante where he has not been a first attacking choice since joining in late January 2018.
Midfielder Odise Roshi plays Russian club Akhmat Grozny together with Albania striker Bekim Balaj who replaced him in the second half.
“Such a defeat gave me more lessons than the victory in Turkey. If everybody made the Turkey performance, I guarantee you we are a very good team” added Panucci.
Albania will play two other friendlies next May, one of which against Ukraine on May 29 and an earlier May 26 against an opponent that still has to be found before embarking on its Nations League campaign.
Albania will start the campaign on Sept. 7, 2018 when they host Israel, a team Albania first faced in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with both sides managing to get 3-0 away victories in their two-legged encounters, but Albania finishing third in a tough group campaign dominated by Spain and Italy.
Scotland, a team which Albania has never faced before is the toughest team in the group, with a lot of experience in World Cup and European tournaments, but having failed to reach a major finals since the 1998 World Cup.
Albania travel to Scotland on Sept. 10, three days after playing Israel, to conclude their first-leg Nations League fixtures. The second leg-games will be away to Israel on Oct. 14 and at home to Scotland on Nov. 17.
The UEFA Nations League will provide teams with another chance to qualify for the UEFA Euro final tournament, with four sides from each league qualifying through play-off matches which take place in March 2020.
The Euro 2020 qualifying campaign is scheduled to begin in March 2019 after ten groups are drawn in December 2018.
Christian Panucci has led Albania in six games since taking over in mid-2017, winning a World Cup qualifier against modest Liechtenstein and a friendly against Turkey, but losing to European superpowers Spain and Italy and drawing against neighboring Macedonia in World Cup qualifiers and most recently against Norway in a friendly.
Panucci’s managerial experience started in 2012 when he served as assistant to Fabio Capello, one of the greatest Italian coaches, when he was leading the Russian national side. Panucci also managed Serie B sides Livorno, Ternana before taking over as Albania’s coach.
Panucci has been set a Euro 2020 qualification target in his two-and-a-half year Albania contract.
