Roberto Mancini defined Italy's shock World Cup qualifying play-off go out to North Macedonia as the antithesis of the Azzurri's Euro 2020 triumph. Only 8 months have passed considering Mancini's men defeated England in a penalty shoot-out at Wembley to be crowned European champions. But tears of joy have been changed with the aid of howls of suffering in Palermo on Thursday as Aleksandar Trajkovski's 92nd-minute strike earned the minnows a memorable victory and a final against Portugal in pathway C of UEFA qualification.
For head teach Mancini, the chain of events considering the fact that that day in London – together with his side's failure to qualify from Group C – is difficult to fathom. "Just because the Euros was the maximum fantastic revel in of my lifestyles, this become the biggest sadness," he instructed Rai. "We can not say something but that is soccer. Sometimes exquisite things appear. Maybe we should not have been there, we did the whole thing to win it. Some suits are like that and it is hard to talk about it.
"The victory at the Euros become absolutely deserved, we played exquisite soccer. Then a number of the success we had in that tournament turned into complete terrible good fortune, as a few implausible things passed off from September onwards. We ruled the group, all we wanted changed into one of those moments to move nicely, but neither of them did. Tonight, it feels almost as though conceding a aim on the 92nd minute become fitting. This is a group of quality players and I am sorry for them."
The loss is sure to cause questions over Mancini's future, with even his Euros triumph not likely to buy him a great deal favour after a desperately disappointing defeat, which means Italy have failed to qualify for consecutive World Cups for the primary time in their records. But Mancini stated it would be wrong to discuss such topics so quickly after the event.
"We will see. I think everybody is just too disappointed right now to talk about the future," he brought. "I actually have to say, I care greater for my lads now than I did in July. This is any such difficult moment, my affection for them is substantial. It's too early to mention what occurs next, as there may be such disappointment, however on the same time this is a squad of terrific players with a shiny destiny."
