Today is the day of the 2026 World Cup European play-off draw. To discuss this topic and the Italian national team, Gazzetta dello Sport contacted Capello.
Capello said: "Gattuso took over the Italian team after two rounds of the qualifying group stage. He led the team to some victories and successfully injected spiritual strength into the team."
"Although we did not see exciting games or strong personal ism, but the defeat against Norway really left a mark on the players. "
"It's important that Gattuso did what he should do. We bowed our heads again against Norway, which made us reflect on our true abilities." What he said to the team afterwards..."
"Now we don't have decent top players, so the most important thing is to develop the mentality of the team, but this is not easy: historically, Italy has been able to go further in big competitions because of a stable team. We are a bit fragmented, and each player comes from a different background."
Finally, Capello talked about the opponent he most hopes to avoid: "I still prefer to face North Macedonia, at least for revenge, after all, the experience in 2022 is impressive."