Roberto Mancini, coach of the Italian national team, called for things to be put right after his team's defeat by Belgium, noting that the reactions to the defeat were exaggerated.
Mancini added, in statements to the Tutto Mercato website: “I think we must remain calm and not get emotional in the way we are currently seeing. We faced Belgium, which is a strong team and caused us some difficulties, but our team showed a good reaction after that. The course of the match could have been changed even though Belgium deserved to win.”
He added, speaking about the formation of the Italian national team against Turkey in the match on Monday: “In terms of the formation, we will definitely change, as it is impossible to rely on one player in 4 matches close in time in this way, and we can also evaluate other players in matches of this importance.”
Mancini did not pay attention to the criticism directed at Alessandro Romano, who played his first match in midfield and faced great difficulty in front of Kevin De Bruyne.
He said: “It does not affect me. I think Romano played a very good match. Mistakes happen to everyone, including the most experienced players. We are happy with his first appearance against Belgium.”
Regarding the Turkish team, Mancini said: “We are facing a strong team, which has many talented players and they have become stronger now, and despite their exit from the group stage of the World Cup, they did not deserve that, and it will be a difficult match.”
Parma FC announced the end of its relationship with Spanish coach Carlos Cuesta, on Sunday, during the current international break, and only a few days after the team achieved its first victory in the Italian Football League this season.
The club stated in a statement that this separation came as a result of internal discussions, indicating that it stemmed from a disagreement over the future vision and not because of the results.
The statement read: “Parma Calcio 1913 announces that Carlos Cuesta is no longer coach of the men’s first team.”
Parma's statement added: "Following internal discussions between the club and the coach, it was agreed that appropriate conditions were not available for the continuation of the professional relationship, especially with regard to developing the sports project, as the necessary conditions for completing the work no longer existed, which led to making this joint decision."
Parma also confirmed that the technical staff will manage the training session scheduled for Monday, while the club is working to appoint a new technical director.
The statement concluded with a thank you from club president Kyle J. Krause, CEO Federico Cherubini, and the Sports Department, to Cuesta for his “months of work, commitment and dedication.”
Media reports in Italy indicate that the disputes between Cuesta and the club management had existed since the beginning of the season and were not related to the results, especially since Parma had won in its last match before the international break.
It is noteworthy that Parma currently occupies fifteenth place in the Italian League standings with 4 points from 5 matches, as it achieved one win and one draw, while suffering 3 defeats.
The French national team intends to rely on other attacking options in its confrontation with its Belgian counterpart, in the European Nations League, in the absence of its star and captain, Kylian Mbappe.
The British news agency (PA Media) reported that the French star scored the only goal of the match against Turkey, on Friday, before he was replaced shortly afterwards after suffering a left knee injury, to return to his Spanish club, Real Madrid.
Zinedine Zidane, the coach of the French national team, was not hoping for bad surprises like these in his first official match as coach of the team, but he said that he was optimistic about what he saw from the performance of his players on the field.
Zidane said in a press conference: “This bodes well for us. We will continue to work, but rest will also be necessary.”
He added: “We still have a lot of work to do, but we can feel satisfied after only 3 or 4 training sessions together. I think we have to realize that this is a natural process, and I am happy with what I saw and the foundations that we laid.”
He continued: “We know that we are performing well with the ball in our possession, and we must also be like that when we do not have the ball, because big teams always need balance, and we succeeded in that throughout the match.”
On the other hand, the Belgium national team began its tournament campaign with a 2-0 victory over Italy in Rome, and it may have the opportunity to deal another blow to another major team in Europe.
The Dutch coach Mark van Bommel, the coach of the Belgium national team, said that he would have preferred the presence of Mbappe, and he said in a press conference reported by the newspaper “Het Latest News”: “For Mbappe to be absent, this is unfortunate, because you always want to face the best football players.”
The Belgian national team will also miss the services of two of its players; They are Leandro Trossard and Mike Penders.
Although both Trossard and Penders participated in training on Sunday, after missing the match against Italy, they are “not ready to participate yet.”
