Roberto Mancini Hints He Will Stay Italy Boss Despite World Cup Disaster

Roberto Mancini dropped a big hint on Monday he will stay on as Italy coach despite the Azzurri failing to qualify for the World Cup for a second successive time. The European champions were stunned by North Macedonia in Thursday's qualification play-off semi-final for this year's tournament in Qatar, sparking talk he could resign in the aftermath of perhaps Italy's worst-ever defeat. However, although he wouldn't openly confirm that he would stay at the helm, on Monday Mancini spoke about the team and the future using the first-person plural "noi", or "we".

"I've spoken with the (Italian Football Federation) president (Gabriele Gravina) in the last few days, I think we're on the same page on pretty much everything," Mancini told reporters ahead of Italy's friendly with Turkey in Konya on Tuesday.

"We will speak about it again in the coming days, we'll see each other again after this match. Then we'll take our time to talk about what can be improved for the future. That's it."

Names including 2006 World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti were touted after Italy's 1-0 defeat in Palermo last week.

Mancini, who took over in May 2018 after Italy failed to reach that's year's World Cup, has a contract which runs until the 2026 tournament co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

After Thursday's defeat team captain Giorgio Chiellini and Gravina both said they wanted Mancini to continue, and the 57-year-old all-but made a public bid to stay on as boss.

When asked what would push him to remain in his post, Mancini smiled and made very clear his enthusiasm for managing a team which he is convinced would have been a contender in Qatar had they qualified.

"I'm still young, my aim is