“Worst 6’5 athlete to ever live”, “Zero technique” - Fans slam ‘useless’ display from 25-year-old after Italy crash out of Euro 2024
Italy crashed out of the Euro 2024 following a 2-0 loss to Switzerland in the round of 16. Fans online came down hard on striker Gianluca Scamacca for a poor display.
The Azzurri had just one shot on target in the game out of a total of 11 attempts. La Nati had expertly nullified their attacking menace while causing all sorts of problems at the other end.
Remo Freuler scored for the Rossocrociati in the 37th minute before Ruben Vargas doubled their advantage just seconds into the restart. The Swiss reached the last 8 of the championship for the second time in a row.
Italy, collectively, failed to rise up to the occasion today, with Scamacca in particular garnering criticism. The 25-year-old failed to muster a single shot on target despite playing the entirety of the clash while hitting the woodwork once.
He's coming off the back of 19 goals and eight assists in 44 games across competitions for Atalanta in the 2023-24 season. Hence, fans expected more from him, but the forward ended up goalless at the tournament. Tonight, however, he garnered a spate of poor reactions from the fans on X.
One user by the name Joe Davis wrote:
"This is the version of Scamacca I watched at West Ham. I don’t think it’s a coaching issue."
Matteo Bonetti tweeted:
Another user mocked Scamacca writing:
"Scamacca has more tattoos than passes completed in his career"
One shared a meme:
Tay wrote:
"For such a physically gifted player, Scamacca uses none of it whatsoever. 6,5ft - never uses his head, doesn't run the channels, requires every ball to his feet. Still the correct decision that we let him go."
Another user echoed the sentiment here:
SANSO wrote:
"People were BEGGING Scamacca to start lmfaooooo zero linkup play zero technique"
There was another meme mocking Scamacca:
Scamacca's West Ham days were remembered in this tweet too:
"scamacca is beyond useless in this type of game, non existent outlet. people wonder why he never worked at west ham, just watch italy this tournament 👍"
Some user felt nostalgic for Ciro Immobile:
"Scamacca is making me miss Immobile. This is unbelievable"
Italy make their earliest Euro exit since 2004
Following a disappointing game, and a disappointing campaign overall, Italy go home after just the Round of 16. It marks their earliest exit from the Euros since 2004 when they went out in the group stages.
Italy came into the match unbeaten against Switzerland in their last 16 games. The odds were firmly stacked in their favor. But the defending champions put up a terrible display at Berlin, ironically the sight of their 2006 FIFA World Cup triumph.
It's time for the Blues to head back to the drawing board now, and rebuild themselves before the World Cup in 2026. The four-time champions will look to avoid a third consecutive qualification failure.