Marianna Puolo, the mother of Italy coach Roberto Mancini, says she would’ve called up Mario Balotelli and suggested ‘mistakes like Jorginho’s cost us…’
The Azzurri suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to North Macedonia in last night’s World Cup play-off at the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo, with Aleksandar Trajkovski’s last minute winner breaking hearts up and down the Italian peninsula.
Speaking to Radiouno, Puolo first reacted to the painful defeat to North Macedonia.
“Yesterday could’ve gone better, but this is football, sometimes things go right and sometimes things go wrong. We had the match in our hands but the attack wasn’t great.
“I would have called up Balotelli, because he has incredible physical strength and in front of the goal nobody can stop him.”
She then touched on why Italy were put in this position in the first place.
“Unfortunately, mistakes like Jorginho’s cost us. I don’t want to point my finger at him because he certainly didn’t do it on purpose, but if you miss three penalties…”
Finally, Puolo highlighted that she still has confidence and faith in the Azzurri despite the World Cup heartbreak.
“Macedonia only had one shot, maybe Donnarumma could’ve saved it but it’s useless to talk about it now.
“This squad hasn’t lost the magic of the European Championship but perhaps some were afraid of making mistakes. Yesterday, I think the ones who celebrated the most were the English.”
The painful defeat means that Italy will miss out on the second World Cup in a row, with their last appearance in the competition dating back to Brazil in 2014. It’ll be a long four years as the Azzurri continue their painful wait on the fringes of football’s biggest tournament.
Italia, la mamma di #Mancini: "L'attacco non è stato un granché. Avrei chiamato Balotelli" #SportMediaset https://t.co/cA6PmLbI71 pic.twitter.com/EJKWBZZXgv
— SportMediaset.it (@sportmediaset) March 25, 2022
I agree 100% – Put your personal opinions asid. From a footballing perspective there is no way Balo would been any worse that what we showed last night. He would played out of his skin for the team last night and been on the ned of any opportunity in the box. He is extremely hard to take off the ball and can shoot from good distance as well. If given half a chance Im sure he would have buried the opportunity. Even as a super sub he wold have done better than the crap we had last night. Balo has “grown up” matured and would loved nothing more than the opportunity to prove it to everybody else. Lost opportunity – Very Bad call by Mancini.
Well said Umberto. I’m in total agreement and couldn’t have put it better myself.
Very funny Italians😆
Balo has been the scapegoat of Italian football for several years and I am glad, I am sure Balo is glad too that he wasn’t called up for this game because he would have been the scapegoat as always! Mancini probably guessed that things could go wrong and Balo will be blamed for it and he will be in trouble for relying on Balo…
Balo was what we needed. A striker that can score from 30 meters out. Someone who isn’t scared and could handle the pressure. Jorginho is trash