Impossible to rebuild a national team in such a short time- Roberto Mancini

Took over as the national coach in May after failing to qualify for the world cup, Roberto Mancini is under pressure to perform.

Italy have been under the radar since long. They have been underperforming since the group-stage exit from FIFA World Cup 2014, followed by failing to qualify for the latest edition of the 2018 Russia World Cup. In a bid to improve as a nation, Roberto Mancini was appointed as the Head Coach but he has now insisted it is impossible to rebuild a national team in such a short time.

Talking on the eve of his team's matchup against Poland in the UEFA Nations League, he said, "This path started in May. We need to put this team together and bring it to the European championship."

Speaking to Calciomercato, he expressed his views, "Portugal are a better team for now and it is rightly so. You never know about anything in football, but it seems that we will play for the second place with Poland."

"Portugal have something extra and have had a great game here. Poland remains a great team, with talented players. It will not be a simple game but we can play it well," Mancini said while realising the current scenario of the strength of the teams in group 3 of League A.

Between three abysmal outings at the FIFA World Cups from 2010 to 2018, Italy were the runner-ups in Euros 2012 and quarterfinalists in Euros 2016.

"When we started our goal was to rebuild a team and make a good impression in the Nations League, but there is no other goal. The rest is traced later. IT takes some time and it is not easy. The moment we manage to find the group that can do great things, we will not have problems putting the team together for the EURO."

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"It is not that if we lose(against Poland) we will not go to the EURO and we will not play anymore. It can happen to Germany, England, Croatia. This Nations League was made to not play friendly matches, but I do not see any drama," the coach concluded.

Italy were held 1-1 by Poland in Bologna last month and have also lost 1-0 to European champions Portugal. Today's game will be a clash to avoid third place and relegation into League B.