Italy In The Match Against Northern Ireland, Mancini: It's Important For Us To Beat Anxiety

Roberto Mancini (Twitter @azzurri_EN)

JAKARTA - Roberto Mancini asked his foster children in the Italian national team squad to overcome anxiety when facing Northern Ireland in the final Group C match for the 2022 World Cup Qualifications in the European zone at Windsor Park, Belfast, Monday local time (Tuesday WIB).

The reason is, the anxiety that Mancini called made Italy fail to beat Switzerland and had to win a 1-1 draw in the previous match at the Olimpico.

The match against Northern Ireland will be the fate of whether Italy will get a ticket to Qatar next year or have to take the playoff route, while at the same time Switzerland will host Bulgaria.

Getting a feel for Windsor Park 🏟️#NIRITA #WCQ #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/svUSdP4Hye

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) November 14, 2021

Italy currently leads at the top of the table on goal difference over Switzerland, although both teams are both on 15 points. Only the group winners will get automatic tickets to the 2022 World Cup finals, while the runners-up will play in the playoffs.

"We were too overwhelmed with anxiety against Switzerland", said Mancini as quoted by Reuters on Monday.

"In Northern Ireland, there will be more pressure, but we need to overcome anxiety".

Against Northern Ireland, Mancini hopes his players can apply a quick passing strategy as has been done in the last three years since he took over as head coach of Gli Azzurri.

"Of course it won't be easy because Northern Ireland rarely let their opponents loose in their defensive area", he said.

"This journey has many difficult moments, which we are not used to. But the players must not forget the things we have achieved so far", concluded Mancini.

Under Mancini, Italy set the longest losing streak in their history and lifted the Euro 2020 trophy at Wembley last July.

Failure to get tickets to the finals will obviously be anticlimactic in Italy's epic journey.

Mancini added that AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali could play an important role while revealing that Nicolo Barella is hunting with time to recover to play in the match against Switzerland.