Prior playoff failure on minds as Italy hunts World Cup spot

MILAN (AP) — With Italy’s worst soccer moment on many people’s minds, coach Roberto Mancini is not thinking about the unthinkable but about winning the World Cup in Qatar.

Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament. Missing two straight World Cups would be an unprecedented low point for the four-time champion, especially less than a year after winning the European Championship.

And, just like for the 2018 World Cup, it has to endure the playoffs. Italy faces North Macedonia in Palermo, Sicily, on Thursday, with the winner playing either Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal or Turkey for a spot at the tournament in Qatar later this year.

“Our aim is to win the World Cup. In order to do so, we need to win these two games,” Mancini said. “It’s only others thinking about scenario B, the negative outcome. I’m thinking only of scenario A. And let’s hope it’s A.

“We have to be positive because we are talking about soccer and especially because we can draw from solid foundations.”

Italy started the qualifiers with three straight wins but then began to stumble and a disappointing draw at home to Bulgaria, less than two months after winning Euro 2020, saw Mancini's team lose its perfect start to World Cup qualifying.

A draw in Northern Ireland in the final round saw Switzerland beat the Azzurri to the top spot in their group and consign them to the prospect of reliving their playoff nightmare.

“We shouldn’t be here but soccer is also made up of these things,” Mancini said. “We are human, it can happen and certain feelings can remain, it’s only natural to think about last time. But the feelings from July are much more recent, we need to start from there.

“I am confident because I know I have good players who built a victory from