Northern Ireland took on Italy last night as a part of the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. But the two Group C teams ended up in a goalless 0-0 draw. However, the Azzuri’s head coach Roberto Mancini is sure about reaching Qatar though Italy failed to qualify ahead automatically yesterday.
Finishing second in the group C, Italy will now have to go through the playoffs. Only then can the Euro 2020 winning squad reach the final tournament in Qatar.
But despite these tougher odds, Italy national team manager Roberto Mancini is confident about his team qualifying for next year.
Mancini Is Sure about Reaching Qatar though Italy Failed to Quality
“We can’t do anything about it, we have this game in March and will try to give our best,” Squadra Azzurra boss Roberto Mancini stated, Football Italia reports.
He continued: “At the moment, we’re struggling to score goals, despite dominating possession and the initiative. Northern Ireland put everyone in defense – we struggle to break sides like that.
“It’s a pity, because we should’ve sealed the group long before it came to this. We just need to rediscover what characterized us up until today. We had 2 missed penalties in the decisive games so that shows we had chances to win.
“Now we go into the play-offs confident. We’ll book our place in the World Cup in March and hopefully win the tournament too.”
World Cup Qualifiers Results from Groups C, F, and I:
Group C
Northern Ireland – Italy 0-0
Switzerland – Bulgaria 4-0
- Switzerland 8 5 3 0 15: 2 18
- Italy 8 4 4 0 13: 2 16
- Northern Ireland 8 2 3 3 6: 7 9
- Bulgaria 8 2 2 4 6:14 8
- Lithuania 8 1 0 7 4:19 3
Group F
Israel – Faroe Islands 3-2
Scotland – Denmark 2-0
Austria – Moldova 4-1
- Denmark 10 9 0 1 30: 3 27
- Scotland 10 7 2 1 17: 7 23
- Israel 10 5 1 4 23:21 16
- Austria 10 5 1 4 19:17 16
- Faroe Islands 10 1 1 8 7:23 4
- Moldova 10 0 1 9 5:30 1
Group I
Albania – Andorra 1-0
Poland – Hungary 1-2
San Marino – England 0-10 (football news)
- England 10 8 2 0 39: 3 26
- Poland 10 6 2 2 30:11 20
- Albania 10 6 0 4 12:12 18
- Hungary 10 5 2 3 19:13 17
- Andorra 10 2 0 8 8:24 6
- San Marino 10 0 0 10 1:46 0
