Roberto Mancini gives honest verdict on Italy’s chances of World Cup qualification.
The Italy boss believes his side must put the Euro 2020 success behind them and focus on the qualifiers.
Italy failed to secure automatic qualification for the next year’s World Cup. The Azzurri will have to continue their qualification campaign as they go through the playoffs.
Italy won the European Championship only a few months ago but could not maintain their quality in the qualifiers. The Azzurri finished second in Group C behind Switzerland, only to be drawn in the path of Portugal in the playoffs. In case both teams win their first games, they will have to battle it out for a spot in the next year’s competition.
In a new interview, Italy boss Roberto Mancini has spoken about his side’s current form.
He told Sky Sport Italia: “This is football, it is a sport. Sometimes you deserve to win and you don’t win, we deserved to finish the group much earlier.
“We let ourselves go a bit and now we have to roll up our sleeves and do a great job in the two games. But I remain optimistic, as I knew that our group with Switzerland would be difficult. I thought we would qualify, but I knew it would be difficult.”
Asked about his side’s Euro 2020 triumph, Mancini responded: “We have done an extraordinary thing, we have made millions of people happy. It is the most beautiful thing, of which we are all proud.
“But the European Championship is behind us, now we have to think about something else.”
Italy will face North Macedonia in their first playoff game, while Portugal meet Turkey.
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