Coach Fabio Capello expressed his sadness over the Italian national team's exit from the European play-offs for the 2022 World Cup after a surprising and painful defeat to North Macedonia with a score of 1-0 on Thursday evening. Regarding the reasons that led to the failure of the European champions to qualify for the World Cup for the second time, the Italian coach stated in remarks to "Sky Sport Italia": "The explanation is very simple. I have been saying for a long time that we have been imitating Pep Guardiola's style, the Manchester City coach, for the past 15 years without having the necessary quality."
He added: "Physically, North Macedonia was superior to us in terms of dynamism, strength, and determination. Everything was clear. We need to understand that the appropriate model for Italian football is the German version, because we will not develop if we want to imitate the Spanish style, who have exceptional technique, and we are unable to replicate them, because we only do it at 50%."
Capello continued: "We need to apply the German style. It features determination, vertical play, and depth. The only team that has done this successfully in Italy is Atalanta. If we don't understand that to succeed in Europe, we must play in a certain way, we will always lag behind."
