Italy once again fell into the World Cup play-offs, missing out on the World Cup for the second consecutive time, and this time being knocked out at home by Macedonia, who are not as strong as they are, which is definitely hard to accept in terms of fans' emotions. However, compared to the ugly elimination in the WC playoffs 4 years ago, Mancini's failure to lead Italy to success this time is not so unforgivable, why is that? See below for an explanation:
(Mancini. Image source: goal)
1. Outstanding war record endorsement.
League of Europe
Third place, European Cup win
Mancini on taking over in Italy
the national team
After that, the transformation of the team is quite clear, in the 2018 World Cup Europe play-offs, Italy two games against Sweden, Verratti and Jorginho respectively as one of the core center center. Mancini, on the other hand, has put two midfield stars with excellent organizational skills on the field at the same time to strengthen the team's ball control ability, supplemented by Barella, who is a strong runner in the midfield, so that the team's defensive ability in the midfield is not too bad.
Although they play a 433 formation, in the attack, the left back becomes the left wingback, forming a three center backs position, no matter whether Spinazzola or Emerson is on the field, Italy's position is obviously leftward. Italy also relied on this formation to play a stunning performance in the European Cup, becoming the first country in the history of the tournament to win all three group stage matches without conceding a goal, and finally winning the knockout stage by defeating the three strongest teams in Belgium, Spain and England.
Of course, there are a lot of people say that Mancini's Italy in the match against Spain and England are won by PK battle, there is a certain element of luck, this is indeed an undeniable fact, in such a strong duel, luck and strength of both the country to win the championship, which is why to get the World Cup and the European Cup Championships is so difficult to win, the glory of the international tournament for football players is so important, not to mention, the Not to mention, Italy is still injured Spinazzola, the core of the offense, and can even pass Spain and England, it is difficult to say that all is a factor of luck.
(Italy wins the European Cup. (Photo credit: nytime)
2. Jorginho's two missed penalties are no longer the coach's sole responsibility
The reason why Italy dropped to the one match play-offs is that injuries and players' form declined after the Europa League, leaving them with only 1 win and 4 draws in the World Cup qualifying matches after the Europa League. The most crucial thing is that they drew both matches against Switzerland, and we all know that Jorginho had a chance to take the winning penalty kick in both matches, but it didn't go in either time. One was confiscated by Swiss goalkeeper Sommer, and the other was kicked away. If only one of the two goals had been scored, it would have been Switzerland that would have gone to the play-offs.
Penalty kicks are not so easy to kick, especially in the key game is the pressure is huge, but the same player to face the same team to lose two consecutive penalty kicks is not common, in the matter of penalty kicks, the coach can only do is to assign the players, in or out of almost not the coach can decide, and not the tactical design can change the result of the question Mancini why the second time to let Ruoginho kick, but Ruoginho itself is a very strong player penalty kicks, and once again choose to believe him does not seem to be an outrageous decision. But Jorginho himself is a very strong penalty kicker, once again choose to believe in him does not seem to be an outrageous decision, if the temporary replacement of the kicking result is still lost, the public opinion may again review why the penalty kicker should be removed.
(Jorginho concedes a penalty. Photo credit: dailymail)
3. The additional matches were not bad, and it was unfortunate that they were lost in the World Cup.
Fans who watched the game on that day know that Italy actually played not bad, and the players' form has also improved a lot compared to after the European Cup. With Spinazzola and Chiesa missing due to injuries, Italy still relied on the strength of the team and the cooperation to create a lot of goal scoring chances, with 32 shots on goal compared to North Macedonia's 5 shots on goal, and 16 corners against 0, so the gap is very huge.
But that's how soccer is, it's all about scoring, and when you're unlucky, it's hard to convert more shots into goals. Let's think back to the European Cup final, Italy's goal, corner kick from the far side of the Bonucci kick into the key to tie the score, that goal can be said to be a lot of luck, the ball just happened to be to the side of the Italian players over, but in this game against the North Macedonia, no matter whether it is a sports shot or a set piece, the ball out of the pop-ups did not have the luck of the time, but instead the opponents are not a chance of opportunity, hit a super difficult shot from a dead angle. Instead, it was a chance for the opponent to hit a difficult shot from a dead angle, and it was unfortunate to be shut out by a super world wave.
(Chiesa injured. (Photo credit: cbssports)
4. Injuries abound, with Spinazzola and Chiesa missing their two biggest breakouts
After the UEFA Europa League matches, everyone knows Spinazzola and Chiesa, Spinazzola is a very important role in Mancini's tactics, his back-insertion assists and excellent sense of rhythm, he can go down to the bottom of the field and cut inside, after cutting inside, you can choose to shoot yourself or pass out a high-quality pass, the UEFA Europa League relies on his passes in the
semifinals
Assisted Chiesa to open the scoring against Austria.
