Mancini on improvements in the Italian team: 'It was matter of time..'
Italy beat Greece 2-0 last night to reach the 2020 Euros- the first team to do after England's 2-1 loss to Czech Republic on Friday. Goals from Jorginho and Federico Bernardeschi sealed the deal for the Azzurri in the second half.
While talking at a Sports Festival in Trento, Mancini was talking about the national team and feels that it was only a matter of time before things became right again.
He said: "The improvements of the national team? It was just a matter of waiting and trusting good players but maybe a little unhappy after the elimination with Sweden. The average of Italian players in the league is still low but there are many young people playing and therefore it is positive."
Mancini also talked about the differences between managing the national team and managing a club.
He said: "I have been both a player and a coach at both levels. I try to be flexible with the players because there are always few weeks to work, the important thing is to let the players who are under pressure rest."
Mancini was appointed as the manager of the Italian national team in the summer of 2018, taking over from Luigi di Biagio. This was six months after Italy had failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
Italy had lost the play-off game to Sweden 1-0 on aggregate to be dumped out of the qualification of the World Cup- an event that shocked many football fans across the world.
They have now qualified for next year's Euros with as many as three games to spare.