Italy coach Roberto Mancini confirms he will remain in charge of the Azzurri despite their failed attempt to qualify for the World Cup: ‘We’ll see what must be improved…’
The CT spoke to the media ahead of tomorrow’s clash against Turkey. Gazzetta dello Sport and Il Corriere dello Sport reported this morning that the coach had decided to remain in charge of the national team and Mancini confirmed it during today’s press conference.
“We’ve spoken these days. I think we have the same ideas on everything. We’ll talk again in the next few days. Now, let’s focus on the game, then we’ll see what we must improve in the future. It’s all here,” he said.
“We need to start again and think about different situations. We have difficult games ahead. We’ll see.
“Despite the huge disappointment, I am happy to see that the job we’ve done in the last four years has been appreciated. The victory at the Euros was not the only good thing we did. The lads deserve the praise for what we’ve done. I can say that these guys are special. The group is exceptional,” he continued.
“We should have won the qualification group with at least two points more than Switzerland. We should have won the game in Basel 3-0. Since September, we haven’t been lucky, and I can’t blame my players because we’ve always played good football. We were not clinical. We made mistakes, we wasted many chances.
“I think you all remember the game in Basel. We should have scored two goals, at least. We’ll look at our errors. Now it’s useless to talk. We don’t want to find excuses.”
Mancini’s choice somehow goes against what usually happens in football, when, after heavy defeats, the first one to pay a high price is the coach. However, FIGC didn’t sack Mancini and the coach has decided to remain in charge.
“These things usually don’t happen in football,” the coach conceded.
“We’ve always tried to give our best in these four years by winning and playing a different brand of football with an offensive mentality. We made it, but in football, things can change overnight.”
So, where do Italy need to improve on and off the pitch?
“Now it’s useless to speak about this,” said Mancini.
“We’ll have a chance to add younger players who, we hope, will have more chances with their clubs. This is crucial. There are many young players who can have the ambition to play with Italy and with a bright future ahead.
“We can look at the potential of young players. The current team, with some addition, could have won the World Cup. There are many things we need to see, surely, we’ll change something from the next games. We must look at the Euros in two years and prepare the team to qualify. This is our job.
“I wanted to win a European championship and a World Cup. I’ll have to wait for the World Cup, but I like this job and I want to organize something important. Aside from this disappointment, the rest goes on…”
Italy will face Turkey tomorrow in a third-place play-off. Their following matches will be in June. First against Argentina in a match between the European and South American champions and then against Germany, Hungary and England in the Nations League.