It is another dark day for Italian soccer as the Gli Azzurri fans woke up to a European champion that will be watching the World Cup from home. Italy had 32 shots on goal to North Macedonia’s 4, but that is why soccer is such a beautiful sport, at the death in the final minutes of the game Aleksandar Trajkovski’s goal condemned Italy to miss out on their second consecutive World Cup.
The Italian newspapers classified missing out on the World Cup as a “disaster” and “embarrassing”. For Roberto Mancini it was a bitter pill to swallow as the manager stated it was “the most disappointing moment of his career.”
Still the Italian FA want Roberto Mancini to continue in his post despite the embarrassing elimination, but it remains to be seen if Mancini will stay.
What will be the future of Roberto Mancini?
Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina is hoping Mancini can lead Italy in a post Qatar process, "I hope Mancini will immediately dispose of the bitterness we all have and continue, because he has a commitment with us," Gravina said.
"When you are part of the world of sport you need to accept these verdicts… The joy of the European Championship remains but now this unexpected bitterness has arrived, perhaps an undeserved result but this is football. There is a project, and we will react. We must go ahead with our heads held high, protect our affection for our national team. Some mistakes have been made and we need to understand their nature" Gravina finished.
Mancini himself has been silent about what comes next as he described talks of his future as premature given missing out on the World Cup was “too great” to even consider future talks.
Up next for Italy is a meaningless match against Argentina in June that will pit the European champions against the Copa America winners.
