Mancini away before the penalty ‘I didn’t want to be disrespectful’ – Football

Roberto Mancini said “I didn’t want to disrespect anyone” by ‘disappearing’ into the tunnel before South Korea kicked the penalty that eliminated Saudi Arabia from the Asian Cup on Tuesday. Many have in fact noticed that Mancini returned to the dressing room of the Education City Stadium in Doha after Abdulrahman Ghareeb missed the Saudis’ fourth penalty after Al-Najei had also missed one. This handed the match point to South Korea, and Mancini left avoiding witnessing Wolverhampton striker Hwang Hee-chan’s spot kick sent the Koreans to the quarter-finals against Australia, eliminating the team of the former Italian coach in the round of 16.


“I apologize, I thought it was over,” the Italian said of his early exit. “I didn’t want to disrespect anyone,” he added. “I want to say thank you to all my players for what they did. They are improving a lot.”


Second choice goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, who at the start of the Cup was South Korea’s ‘twelfth’, was his team’s hero, saving the two penalties and thus giving his team a 5-3 victory after the penalties, after the 1-1 draw at the end of extra time.


Thus the plan of the sheikhs of Riyadh to bring the Saudi national team back into vogue after the local championship has so far failed. The project is long-term and has as its final goal the World Cup that the country will host in 2034 but in the meantime Mancini was asked to try to replicate what he did with Italy in 2021, that is to win the continental tournament, specifically the Asian one in which Saudi Arabia last excelled in 1996. This will not be the case because it was the South Korea of ​​former Inter players Jurgen Klinsmann (coach) and Paolo Stringara (assistant) who advanced.


“I’m very happy and I’m very sad – commented Mancini -. Sad because we were eliminated, but at the same time happy because we improved a lot. We worked for a month together, and this was really important. Now we are a team, even if it is clear that we still need to improve.”

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2024-01-30 21:34:47
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