Italy coach Roberto Mancini is said
to be mulling his future after the reigning European champions
failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for the second
straight time by losing 1-0 to North Macedonia in Palermo
Thursday night.
"My future? Now it's too soon to think about it, the
disappointment is too great," said the Marche-born tactician
after Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a sensational 92nd minute
winner.
"I had said that the Euros won at Wembley was the greatest
satisfaction, this is the biggest disappointment of my career, I
can't think of the future," said Mancini, who steered the
Azzurri to a record 37-game unbeaten run that ended in October
amid two draws to Switzerland that brought them short of
automatic qualification for Qatar 2022.
La Gazzetta dello Sport tipped former China coach and 2006 World
Cup her Fabio Cannavaro to take over the national team, with his
World Cup winning boss Marcello LIppi playing a kind of "mentor
role".
But veteran skipper and Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini said he
hoped 'Mancio' would continue.
"We must restart and I hope Mancini stays, we need him to do
so"; said the 37-year-old, who came on shortly before the
stunning winner.
Italy, sixth-ranked in the world, dominated against 67th ranked
North Macedonia with 32 shots on goal but only five of them were
on target, the best chance when Sassuolo's Domenico Berardi
failed to put enough oomph into an effort on a goal left open by
keeper Stole Dimitrievski's wayward clearance.
The North Macedonians had four goal attempts but the winner by
former Mallorca and Palermo striker Trajkovski, who now plays
for Saudi outfit Al-Fayha, was the only meaningful effort.
The 29-year-old, became a national hero by lashing it into the
corner of the net beyond the despairing fingers of PSG goalie
Gigio Donnarumma, player of the tournament at the Euros, who
could not be faulted in failing to stop such a fizzer.
Chelsea's Champions League winning playmaker Jorghinho said he
could not forgive himself for missing two penalties in each game
against the Swiss that would have meant avoiding having to go
through the World Cup qualifying play-offs.
"I'll always remember them, and they'll always hurt," said the
Italo-Brazilian, who was tightly marked by a well-marshalled
North Macedonian midfield and defence.
PSG playmaker Marco Verratti, who had a great game but could not
find the killer final pass, was also self-critical.
"You have to win games like tonight's, and if you don't you have
to ask yourself questions," said the former Pescara midfielder.
"It's true, we were unlucky, but you have to look for luck, and
find it".
Italy now trudge to Konya to play a meaningless third-place
final against Turkey, who were beaten 3-1 by Portugal in the
other play-off semi, while Cristiano Ronaldo and his fellow
stars play Italy's shock conquerors at the Estadio do Dragao in
Porto on Tuesday to see who makes it to Qatar.
The Azzurri lost to Sweden in a play-off four years ago and it
will now be a 12 year gap from 2014, their last World Cup
appearance, if they manage to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Before that they only failed to get to the 1958 tournament in
Sweden after Northern Ireland stunned them in the qualifiers.
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