Roberto Mancini acknowledges he and the players ‘owe Italians an apology’ for failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. ‘We have to turn a page and change something for the long-term.’
The Nazionale had already disappointed by finishing runners-up to Switzerland in the group phase, then lost 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in the play-off semi-final.
They will therefore play a friendly this evening in Turkey against the other side that lost their play-off to Portugal.
It kicks off in Konya at 19.45 UK time.
“We gave it our all, but we still owe Italians an apology, because we will not give them the same joy that we did in July,” Mancini told RAI Sport.
Just eight months after winning UEFA EURO 2020, which started with a 3-0 victory over Turkey in Rome, the Azzurri find themselves again having to start from scratch.
“Tonight’s game is going to be difficult on a psychological level for both teams. For us, it can be the start of something: we need to turn a page and change something for the long-term. Seeing a few young players in action could be useful.”
Italy also missed out on the 2018 World Cup, meaning for at least 12 years they will not be taking part in this tournament.
An entire generation of Azzurri supporters risk growing up without seeing their team in the World Cup.
“The biggest disappointment is that we wanted to give 60 million Italians that joy, including children who have never seen the Nazionale,” continued Mancini.
“When we started this run four years ago, we said we wanted to bring Italians closer to the national team. We didn’t manage it the way we did in July, so now we’ve got to ensure they don’t drift away again.”
Jokers, dont forget to apology when we will not qualify for 2026 world cup
Common Mancini what apology? Do you think that winning today will heal our scar??? I wish if he didn’t say anything could have been better, Mancini Italians will be even more pissed when they see Portugal crashing Macedonia today that you failed to do. The only thing that is giving you little mercy that you won the European trophy past summer.
If Italy fail to qualify in 2026,it won’t be on mancini. the blame will be on Serie A and Italian football who can’t come up with a solution that works for the club teams as well as the national team, whereby young Italian players get playing time weekly.
If players like Zaniolo,Scamacca, Kean, end up like El sharawi,bernadeschi etc who showed promise but we’re mostly on the bench in their careers, no coach can win
You owe a resignation, you arrogant ignoramus
shut it Matt ‘I’ for idiot perhaps?
I wish Mancini would stop saying that they lads gave their best because that’s not true,
Immobile, Insigna, Barrella and Jorginho have been hopeless for the last 6 months and definatly did not give 100% in the WC qualifiers because if they had they would have qualified
Mancini you must shoulder most of the blame because he kept picking them
People who talk about Italy not qualifying in 2026… sheesh, so overdramatic. Expanded format means more countries qualify for the next one, and let’s be real, the odds of Italy getting the hardest qualifying group for the third time in a row are slim. To say nothing of the fact that I think a big part of the qualifying failure was post-Euros complacency.
Agree you need to watch the Azzurri Rugby Union victory over Wales to see what100% commitment is,
Great point Dm
vs. the Macedonians a number of our Azzurri looked “scared”
I’m willing to give Mancini a second chance, however, I hope he learns from over reliance on the “old” guard, as that mistake was made by Lippi and even Sacchi and Bearzot before him.
Silly comments on here from people who only know PlayStation football (@Roberto J). That’s not a little thing winning a cup… Ask England if they’d take winning something after 55 years over turning up to a tournament that they won’t win. Italy won the Euros as the best team on the pitch. Only in England do they disagree with that but then, that’s a national habit. So, Mancini, just on those grounds, is an excellent manager and has a proven record. You can’t cancel that out. Italy is still a strong footballing nation (as evidenced by their crazy unbeaten run) and suffered an unfortunate blip. The players did give their all but the strikers just weren’t up for the job, they missed too many chances (Italy had 1000+ in the groups so they create tons but don’t convert) and hopefully this is being addressed with the new generation. Mancini has to adapt and can do so comfortably now since he can prepare for a post-Immobile/Belotti/Berardi future.
And for the other comment about Portugal, they had a tough time v Macedonia and barely scraped past Turkey, so at this level, anything can happen. The aim is to not be in a position where you can be caught out in a one off game.
Only way to redeem yourselves is win euro 2024 and World Cup 2026. Anything less will not do