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.