Silvio Baldini’s first match in charge of Italy’s senior national team was always destined to be an emotional affair, but few expected tears to flow before a ball was kicked. On the eve of a low-profile friendly away to Luxembourg, the 65-year-old caretaker manager choked up when asked to whom he would dedicate the occasion: it was, he said, his children’s dog, a Maremma shepherd. “Emotions give meaning to life — without them you don’t exist,” Baldini explained, setting the tone for an evening that blended personal sentiment with a tentative search for national renewal.

His young Azzurri side, fielded with an average age barely above 20 and captained by veteran Gianluigi Donnarumma, duly delivered a 1-0 victory at the Stade de Luxembourg. The decisive moment arrived early in the second half, when Inter Milan striker Francesco Pio Esposito rose to head home from a corner. Italy had dominated possession and territory from the outset, with Niccolò Pisilli, Luca Koleosho and Esposito himself all squandering good first-half chances. Pisilli later struck the woodwork as the visitors sought to extend their lead against limited but resolute hosts.

Italian media framed the result as a cathartic mini-reset for a footballing nation still reeling from a third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup. Baldini, a journeyman coach known for his contrarian streak, was appointed as a stopgap before a permanent successor is named. His squad included teenagers such as Samuele Inàcio, a 2008-born forward recently transferred from Atalanta to Borussia Dortmund, underlining an urgent desire to rejuvenate. Yet the performance, while dominant, was described by some domestic outlets as a “striminzita” (meagre) win — a reminder that the path back to the global elite will be long. The match unfolded on a rain-sodden evening, a melancholic backdrop as the rest of the football world prepares for the first expanded 48-team World Cup in North America, a tournament Italy will watch from the sidelines.

From a Southeast Asian perspective, the contest registered as little more than a routine European friendly, with Indonesian agency Antara reporting the result without dwelling on its symbolic weight. This divergence highlights the gap between Italy’s internal narrative of crisis and rebirth and the outside world’s perception of a once-great power slipping into the margins. The Azzurri now travel to face Greece in another friendly at the weekend, while Luxembourg prepare for Albania. For Baldini and his young charges, these matches represent rare opportunities to stake a claim before a new permanent manager takes over, and to prove that Italian football’s emotional reset can be more than a moment of sentiment.