Milana Bertolini, coach of the Italian women’s national soccer team, announced her decision to step down from her duties, in light of the disappointing exit from the group stage of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Bertolini, whose contract comes to an end at the end of this month, took over the supervision of Italy’s women in 2017, and was forced to face a rebellion from her compatriots after losing to South Africa 2-3 in the third and final round of the group stage.
Bertolini, who has previously worn the national team’s shirt in 150 international matches, posted a message on the Instagram application in which she defended herself, saying, “The search for a scapegoat is very easy and clear (…) The danger is playing against ourselves and not with ourselves and against our competitors. Therefore, I don’t feel any resentment and I have no reason to feel guilty or to look for a culprit.”
The Italian national team players published on the communication sites a message in which they criticized Bertolini without naming it the day after the exit from the World Cup, after disappointing results, as the Italian national team ranked third in Group G with a 1-0 victory over Argentina and two defeats against Sweden by five clean and South Africa.
“We were never afraid, but we felt only a little bit of confidence,” the Italian players wrote, noting “the difficulties (we faced) first during the previous edition of the European Cup, and now in the World Cup.”
Italy ranks 16th in the FIFA world rankings, and has previously reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup France 2019, and failed to skip the group stage in Europe 2022.
2023-08-07 14:44:16
#Womens #World #Cup #Italian #national #team #race #teams #coach #resigns
