Il Mancio unloaded the national team with an overnight email. The Tuscan coach has a clause, he is linked to Naples exclusively until January, but the FIGC plans to untie the knot. Conte ready as an alternative
Another Apocalypse for Italian football. Even worse than the previous ones which cost us the exclusion from the last two World Cups, because, however embarrassing and unjustifiable, one should never be ashamed of a result on the field. It is however the deposit of merits and demerits, it is part of the sporting logic. But that’s another story. Here is the coach of a national team that has won four World Cups, Roberto Mancini, who suddenly resigned from his role, without explanation, two days before mid-August, on one of the most absurd days in our football history.
left-handed pec
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The federal president, Gabriele Gravina, yesterday morning, among the emails, found the pec of his coach sent from Mykonos which communicated the decision to him. They had met the night before to talk about some critical issues, but the word “resignation” had never been mentioned. The night brought no advice. Gravina tried to call Mancini back, but he couldn’t. Wrong times and ways, minimum. In 26 days, the national team will take the field against Macedonia and three days later against Ukraine, delicate matches on the way to the European Championship, after the defeat against England. Within a couple of days the pre-calls for players who can be played abroad will have to be made, and by 21-22 for the others. Someone else in the Football Federation will take care of it.
cracks in the national team
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Yesterday, in the late morning, the official press release: “The FIGC acknowledges the resignation of Roberto Mancini from the position of coach of the Italian national team”. In the late afternoon, urged by the Football Federation which demanded, with some tension, the underlining of the one-sidedness of the decision, Mancio’s words arrived on Instagram: “The resignation as coach of the national team was my personal choice”. Thanks and usual greetings. “It was an honor.” Not later than 17 June, in Enschede, after the defeat against Spain in the Nations League, Mancini assured: “I hear things about me that have neither rhyme nor reason. I’m staying and I’m happy. We risk winning the 2026 World Cup” . In early August, he had accepted the new role of Supervisor of the Under 20 and 21 and shared the reorganization of the national youth teams. The Football Federation assures that the coach has given full approval to the new appointments, while in the left-handed environment dissatisfaction was brewing with the treatment reserved for some pieces of the staff. Mancini would have perceived a drop in confidence, consecrated by the appointment of Gigi Buffon as head of delegation, descended from above. Perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back. Certainly, something broke after the apocalyptic defeat against Macedonia. And it could not be otherwise. At the time, his resignation (not just his) would have been more understandable. The masterpiece of Euro ’21, for which we will always be grateful to him, guaranteed him a new credit opening, but after the failed World Cup against lesser opponents and after the belated renewal of the national team, Roberto could no longer present himself as the absolute Dominus of the blue universe , had to come to terms. Are these dynamics and bruised pride enough to justify the resignation? There would be much richer reasons. A pharaonic contract to lead the Saudi Arabian national team for the next three years. In those parts they ensure that the agreement is about to be finalized, indeed that it would have already been signed, and they say that the negotiations began in June.
shoulders and count
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That was the case, while Mancini was negotiating a salary adjustment (500,000 euros) with the Federcalcio for the new role of Supervisor, Mancini agreed with the Arab nabobs. If so, it would be a very sad picture of our football, stripped of feelings, a stain in Mancini’s sporting parable. Moving from one national team to another is not like moving from one club to another, because the national team is a people’s team, it represents values and belonging. It’s not a private company, it’s an institution. It doesn’t abandon itself in the summer like a dog on the highway. It is not discharged with a night text message from Mykonos, where the Turin entrepreneur is spending her holidays, dumped before the wedding for alleged betrayal. Mancini was married to Italy until June 2026. The frantic hunt for the new coach has already begun. With the commitments pressing, there are no minutes to lose. To restore credibility to the Football Federation, unable to intercept such an epilogue, and to convey confidence to the Azzurri fans, powerful names are needed, such as Mancini’s was after the Swedish Apocalypse. Gravina would not like to go below those Luciano Spalletti and Antonio Conte who have already been tested and who have ensured maximum availability. Spalletti is the favorite who tactically would give more continuity to Mancio’s 4-3-3 and would gather more transversal consensus, as well as involving a lower salary cost. There is the problem of the 3 million clause that binds him exclusively to De Laurentiis’ Napoli until January, but Gravina is confident of resolving the case, Conte would bring the experience as a former tenant of Coverciano and the charisma to charge a troop probably upset by the turnaround. The former Juventus player, who has already been coach and probably has another club adventure more at heart, has nevertheless made himself available to the Azzurri cause: if he missed the Spalletti rink and was precepted by his homeland, he would answer yes. We await the white smoke in the most baffled August 15 of Italian football.
August 14 – 01:14
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