Roberto Mancini compared the World Cup failure to winning UEFA EURO 2020. ‘That was the most wonderful experience of my life, this was the biggest disappointment. It’s too early to talk about the future.’
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.
World Cup Play-Offs | Italy 0-1 North Macedonia: Azzurri fail again
Italy won the European Championship, yet failed to qualify for the second consecutive World Cup.
“Just as the Euros was the most wonderful experience of my life, this was the biggest disappointment. We can say nothing, that is football, sometimes incredible things happen and it happened.
“We shouldn’t have been here in the first place, but we did everything we could to win and it’s hard to even talk about it.
“The victory at the Euros was absolutely deserved, we played great football. Then some of the fortune we had in that tournament turned into total and complete bad luck, as some unbelievable things happened from September onwards.
“We dominated the group, all we needed was one of those moments to go well, but neither of them did. Tonight, it feels almost as if conceding a goal at the 92nd minute was fitting.
“This is a group of fine players and I am sorry for them.”
Mancini was asked if he will or indeed can continue his role after failing to qualify for the World Cup.
“We will see. I think everyone is too disappointed right now to talk about the future.”
The coach also discussed his human connection with the players after they have been through so many highs and lows together.
“I have to say, I care more for my lads now than I did in July. This is such a tough moment, my affection for them is immense. It’s too early to say what happens next, as there is such disappointment, but at the same time this is a squad of great players with a bright future.”
Crazy to say this, and even crazier to be true (which it is)…Spinazzola made this team formidable at Euro 2020 and was the primary reason they played well collectively…note the games he missed we won on penalties. This is not a great team, save for the Euro Cup – at least we got to see them do well there and have a decent memory of the past 10 years. Many issues.
Agreed. Spinazzola should have been named Man of the Tournament in the Euros.
Poor technical choices. Inform players should have played Calabria and Tonali should have started and Belotti over Immobile.
No, let’s talk about your future. Adio.
Arise Lord Allegri Italy is calling for 2026 further shame.😂
Imagine him on the left and Calabria on the right?? One can dream but it’ll have to wait another 4 years.
Let’s hope Napoli win the Scudetto, LaNapoliFan.
after a second consecutive failure, it is time to take really adequate measures. all clubs need to limit the use of so many foreign players. For example, there is not a single Italian in Udinese
8 years of failure
Instead of blaming bad luck, Mancini should take accountability for his poor management of this team. The attacking personnel was lacking, connecting play in the attack was poor. These are not words of a leader, they are words of a mentally soft individual. Italy deserves a better manager.
Chiesa and Spina would’ve helped, but shame on Mancini.
So gutted. Other crap year nothing to look forward to has in World Cup my son still not seen Italy in world next one is 2026 he be 15
Nah Tony t your son will be 19 when he sees them in a WC, maybe even 23.
I don’t care what he did in the Euro.. that was the past.. How the F do you tie Bulgaria, N. Ire, Swiss, and lose to these loser from NM?????? How?? Aftet winning a Euro????
You are done, Mancio – Good bye and Good Riddance
No idea why Mancini did not call up Scamacca. Him, Raspadori, and Berardi are the best Italian forwards currently available. Immobile always tries hard but he’s not good enough for international football, and Insigne proved last summer was merely an exception to his Italy form. Abysmal from the little man.
It is very sad night and no words to describe it. Something decisive must happen. Italian football federation must change its mentality. Teams must play more with Italian talent. Some of the teams they don’t even have one Italian player on the starting 11. Also the Italian national team must have more training time together and clubs must make it easy for them. Italy is missing true strikers and that is all the teams fault!
@Robi their GK is Italian.
The problem was picking player’s that shouldn’t be in the squad( eg Cristante, Politano, De Sciglio)
And starting player’s with no form( eg Immobile,Dollarumma ) and benching guy’s that do have form ( Tonali Sirigu/Cragano)
Even having Belotti out there would of been SOMETHING and Mancini should have the guts to play Raspadori, Tonali etc
About Donnarumma, he sits on the bench 75% of the season then he has no match awareness. Cragano and Sirigu at least play and are match sharp. But of course Mancini would be obliged to select the “generational talent” who by the way will miss his SECOND WC.
Watching Dollaruma’s recent perpormances, I hope he is enjoying parisian life, and his high salary. Karma is boomerang!
Any smart country would have said ok spina is out let’s replace him with a guy who does the same thing using stats. Could have plopped parisi udogie bellanova cambiaso any of those kids and told them to just run and beat your man. Had to be brave and typical weak Italian mentality.
Mancini should stay. Italy have been playing well. The problem is there is no quality Italian strikers anymore. Immobile was non-existent and Berardi can’t hit the target to save his life.
I still think that Balotelli would have been better, at least we can all agree that he has talent and can be lethal in front of goal, something Italy was lacking.
Anyway, this talk of replacing Mancini with the likes of Cannavaro will only make things worse…
I don’t think Mancini is a strong manager tactically. He had a plan A that worked during the Euros. When plan A was no longer effective he didn’t have a Plan B in place.
He didn’t exactly have a tough group. He had more than enough time to make tactical changes to address the issue with scoring goals.
It’s bad for the players that will have retired for the next world cup.
Question is who would be the alternative?
Mancini, unfortunately suffers from two lethal ailments as a coach. He shows too much loyalty to players who have won previously for him (Immobile, Insigne, Jorginho, Florenzi) and he has no plan B. His 4-3-3 has become too predictable and he needed to mix it up a bit depending on the opponent. In the last 6 months many of his substitutions have been questionable including today. Balotelli is one player that could have made the difference against a packed Macedonian defence as he is the only current Italian striker that can score from outside the box and who is excellent in the air. But no, we get Immobile instead…
The non-selection of Calabria by Manicini was a bad error. Calabria should have been the clear 1st choice at right back, he could have provided more creativity going forward as a deeper threat. The type of deep lying threat that Italy lack since losing Spinazolla. Lazari would be better 2nd option at right back. Florenzi and Di lorenzo are inferior to to Calabri and Lazari. Di Marco and Biraghi are better options at left back compared to the limited Emerson. Mancini made errors in selection on both full backs choosing on loyalty rather than merit. Mancini also lacked tactical imagination and had no plan B formation to the 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 has been worked out by opposition team and clearly was not working in the few games after Euro 2020. He lacked the courage and flexibility to find a different formation to trial with for example 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 against teams that defend deep. Perhaps the congested fixture schedule did not allow him to make a plan B and trial different formations. Mancini deserves to continue despite the selection errors and his reluctance to evolve from past winning formula that clearly stopped working or did not work as well following the absence of Spinazolla . He needs to however learn from his mistakes and be more tactically flexible, innovative and evolve when the paradigm shifts. He also needs to be sharper in selection and promote better players like Calabria in to the team rather than relying on loyalty and sticking to average players like Di Lorenzo, Emerson, Florenzi just because they did a job in the past. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to do this to keep Italy relevant in the world stage but he deserves a chance after the Euro 2020 success.