Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, but then managed to win the postponed European Nations Cup last year.
Italy will be on a date with a familiar fate, and following the team failed to qualify for the World Cup through the group stage of the qualifiers, it will have to beat North Macedonia on Thursday in the semi-finals of the final stage of the qualifiers, in order to keep its hopes of qualifying for the World Cup Qatar 2022.
Mancini’s side will have to face the winner of the second match between Cristiano Ronaldo-armed Portugal or Turkey, but the former Manchester City boss spoke optimistically ahead of facing North Macedonia in Palermo.
Mancini said in an interview with reporters: “We should not take the first match for granted, it will not be easy, and if we win that match, we will have four days to prepare for the final.”
He added: “We have built a solid foundation, we have a state of positivity, and we believe that everything will be fine, we have two very difficult matches, we were not supposed to be in this situation, but suffering sometimes occurs.”
He continued, “We have to continue playing as we were, we did not reach our goals by chance, and we did not want to play those matches, but the players are in good spirits and this is important.”
He explained: “I am optimistic because I have players who won the European Championship from nothing, and when no one believed in the possibility of this happening, we must think regarding what we did to make ourselves more confident. The team is solid and has high potential.”
He said: “Our goal is to win the World Cup, and for that to happen we have to win the next two matches. We want to go to the World Cup and win it.”
Mancini called up Luiz Felipe and Joao Pedro, while Lorenzo Insigne and Nicolo Barilla were called up, despite their poor performance with their clubs in the last period.