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Italy manager Roberto Mancini has called his side's failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup the "biggest disappointment" of his career.
The Azzurri were beaten in the playoffs by North Macedonia, who struck at the death through Aleksandar Trajkovski, ending Italy's hopes of reaching Qatar to play the World Cup this year.
Having also missed the Russian showpiece in 2018, this is the first time in their illustrious history that Italy have failed to qualify for consecutive World Cups.
Mancini, who led the side to the Euro 2020 title just eight months ago, was visibly dejected, much so that he didn't even bother looking at the stats.
In his post-match comments, the 57-year-old said:
“Last July, I had the biggest joy in my career at the Euro. Now, I just lived the biggest disappointment. This is football, sometimes incredible things happen. It’s difficult for me to analyze this game, I didn’t even look at the stats. We totally deserved to win the European Championship, but the luck that favored us eventually turned its back on us.”
The Azzurri were dominant for much of the game but didn't pose any real threat to the Lions, who were content to sit back and soak it all in.
Their patience paid off in the closing stages of the game when Bojan Miovski found space between their defenses to play Trajkovski, who then did the rest.
With just over three minutes left on the clock, the Blues huffed and puffed but couldn't find a way back into the game.
Lamenting his side's missed chances, Mancini further added:
“I don’t know what to say. Perhaps we should not have come to this point. We had at least two chances that usually don’t end up like this. We just needed to score one. Conceding such a goal on 90 minutes adds insult to injury. This is a team with many good players, I am really sorry for them.”
Italy manager's job under threat?
In July last year, Italy erased their painful memories of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers by going all the way at Euro 2020.
Mancini appeared to have successfully built a side which was ready to take on the Qatar showpiece.
However, since their crowning moment at Wembley, there's been a visible decline in their performances, evident once again last night.
Failure to even qualify for the World Cup will leave a lasting mark on Mancini's legacy as his position as Italy manager could be under threat, though he refused to comment on his future.
“I thank President Gravina for his trust but it’s difficult to talk about my future now. Tough days are coming. The boys didn’t deserve to miss the World Cup. But, when you lose, you just have to take it and remain silent.“
