Gareth Southgate felt that Italy’s shock defeat to North Macedonia was ‘a big surprise’ but noted ‘that’s football.’
The Azzurri were completely in control of their World Cup play-off against North Macedonia yesterday in Palermo but they failed to make a decisive approach in the final third, wasting a number of chances. This came back to haunt Roberto Mancini’s side as they fell to a late goal from Aleksandar Trajkovski.
Speaking in a press conference today, Southgate gave his thoughts on Italy’s defeat and subsequent failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.
“It was a big surprise that Italy didn’t win.
“I think its clear that sometimes teams have a cycle, and whether that was their cycle, or whether it was the after effects of the final and the emotions of it. That’s where our players did so well to recover from the emotional of the final and perform well in the Autumn.
“There were fine margins in three or four of their games and that’s football.”
Jordon Henderson also commented on the result, saying that “I’m not really interested, it just shows how difficult qualification can be and you cannot take it for granted.”
This is the second World Cup in a row that the Azzurri have failed to qualify for, meaning their last appearance in the competition dates back to 2014 in Brazil. It will be a long four years as Italy wait for a chance to redeem themselves, although this is the perfect opportunity to overhaul things.
🗣 "It's clear that sometimes teams have a cycle."
Gareth Southgate on Italy's exit from World Cup 2022 qualification pic.twitter.com/BQxWu7367y
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 25, 2022