Giorgio Chiellini defended his Italy teammates after the shock World Cup play-off failure to North Macedonia. ‘You can’t say we were presumptuous. We are distraught.’
The Azzurri failed to even reach the play-offs final, having wasted 32 attempts on goal, whereas North Macedonia scored one of only four, with Aleksandar Trajkovski into the bottom corner in stoppages.
Italy won the European Championship, yet failed to qualify for the second consecutive World Cup.
World Cup Play-Offs | Italy 0-1 North Macedonia: Azzurri fail again
“It’s difficult to explain, I think we again had a good game and just didn’t score the goal. I don’t think anyone can say we were presumptuous,” Chiellini told RAI Sport.
“We made mistakes from September to now and paid for them. I am proud of my teammates and this group, clearly we are distraught, we have to get restart.
“A large void is now within us and we hope it can give us the strength to go forward in future. I hope it will still be with this coach, who has given so much to the Nazionale.
“Hopefully we can then play in the World Cup in four years’ time, having unfortunately missed out.”
How have Italy been so ineffective upfront, not just this evening, but throughout the qualifying campaign after EURO 2020?
“It’s not like we didn’t create the chances, we had 32 shots on goal. We barely risked anything at the back either.
“Maybe it’s difficult for us to read the situation from so close, but the lads gave their all and we hoped for a different result.”
Chiellini was asked if this was his final game in the Italy jersey.
“I think we need to play the next, then we’ll see. This is not the time for this.”
#Italia, le parole di Giorgio #Chiellini dopo l’eliminazione dai Mondiali https://t.co/sI19shN7ZU
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) March 24, 2022
This is a monstrosity of epic proportions.
Everybody in here was warning Mancini to not call back certain players and he stubbornly ignore the pleas. There are sharp commenters in here and what to death ears?
Did you really think that Balotelli would not have poured his heart and soul into that and score a goal even if he had to throw himself into the net with the ball. Mancio played it safe that’s what you get.
That team is N Macedonia, I think it’s Serbs and they are excellent players, like Croatia etc-not minnow at all.
What a stupid question.
Of course it’s his last match.
@Jarod KNowles Not Serbs or Croatians but Macedonians
@Brandon 5 ethnic Albanians, so what?
How many oriundi are there in the italian squad?
It was a valiant no luck for the Azzurri today, as we have been accustomed to for many years.
We cannot win it every four years.
1st 1934 to 2nd 1938 wins….4 years.
1938 to 3rd 1982 win……44years.
1982 to 4th. 2006win…….24years
We have been beaten occasionally by weaker nations.
1966 North Korea beat us 1-0.
2002 South Korea beat us 2-1 in extra time with 3 minutes left.
2022 North Macedonia beat us 1-0 in injury time.
Hopefully in the coming years there will be no:
South Macedonia or
Middle Korea formed to prolong these disappointing losses.
My algorithm tells us we are due to win it all for the 5th 2030 win…24 year span.
I will be 80 and no more WC wins for me.
Forza Canada.
Yeah, don’t retire Georgio, you’re truly getting better with age, faster, stronger, better stamina, never injured. Who needs young players when you and Bonnucci can lead Italy and Juve for at least the next 15 years. 50 is the new 30 in serie a! What a league Calcio is! 👍🙄
I have posted many times that Immobile spends too much time raking the the bangs off his forehead and eyes.
You can see this fault in his play interferes in not being able to receive the ball at his feet , with his back to the goal.
Every missed play “there he goes “, brushing the the bangs out of his face.
It is interfering with his vision and field comfort.
It is surprising that this is not noticeable by the Azzurri coaching staff.
Unfortunately you will no longer be able to concentrate on this habit unless you are a Lazio fan.
It’s hard to believe that the Bonucci-Chiellini pair only played in ONE World Cup in their entire career…
Mancini panicked and lost his sense of what needed to get done. He knew NM would just defend and leave no space in and around the box, which meant Immobile had nothing to do. And that’s what he did. He should have started with Politano, the only Italian outside Chiesa who can beat a man. And that’s what you needed when a team plays like NM did. Create space. Immobile never found any space the whole game, and he can’t play further back and attack spaces because he has never beat a man. Not his game. He scores when he received a ball with space in front he can run into. Couldn’t Mancini see that scenario was never going to happen tonight? Very discouraging to go out this way.
Alelsandar,
My message doesn’t show for some reason.
Did I write that something was wrong with that? Are you OK, man?