Coach Mancini announced his shocking ambition with Italy, why did Balotelli be eliminated?

Coach Roberto Mancini spoke confidently before the play-off semi-final of the 2022 World Cup qualifier in Europe with North Macedonia.

Italy defeated Belgium, won 3rd place in Nations League 2020/21

According to the results of the play-off draw World Cup 2022 Europe, Italy and Portugal are in the C arm. That means they have to “fight to the death” to win a ticket to the finals. World Cup 2022 only in this branch. On the morning of March 25, Italy will face North Macedonia in the semi-finals, while Portugal will face Turkey.

Coach Mancini in the latest press conference

Speaking at the latest press conference at the Italy training camp in Coverciano, Coach Mancini expressed confidence: “Italy team always brings satisfaction, it doesn’t always win and sometimes there are moments. It was tough, but we had great achievements. There will be two important matches coming up, then the best will come in November and December.

Our goal is to win the World Cup, so we have to win the next two games. We could have avoided this situation, but overall the players did well enough, and football There are always surprises and unpredictable things. We want to go to the World Cup to conquer it, needless to say. I don’t even want to think of any other scenarios.”

Mancini made a controversial decision when he eliminated striker Mario Balotelli when closing the list for Italy. Before that, he summoned this striker for a training session in January. Sharing at the press conference, Mancini pointed out the reason why Balotelli was not named to make room for Joao Pedro, a striker from Cagliari club.

“Why Joao Pedro and not Balotelli, no big deal,” Mancini said. “Leaving any player at home is a pity. But to judge, Joao Pedro can kick the attack or run on the wing. I try to fill in the names of versatile players because we don’t have much time to prepare. The foundation here are the players who played in the EURO 2020 finals, except for Bernardeschi because of not being in good form. Besides, I can’t summon up to 40 people.”

Talking about the upcoming opponent Turkey, Mancini assessed: “We will have to focus on the first match. Everyone thought it was easy for us, but it wasn’t. It will be 90 minutes whatever can happen, then we have four days to prepare for the next game.”