{"id":2507891,"date":"2025-04-23T21:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2507891\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T21:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:49:14","slug":"bertolini-steps-down-as-italy-coach-after-world-cup-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2507891\/","title":{"rendered":"Bertolini steps down as Italy coach after World Cup exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\"   height=\"2624\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: International Women's Friendly - Italy v Colombia\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football &#8211; International Women&#8217;s Friendly &#8211; Italy v Colombia &#8211; Stadio Tre Fontane, Rome, Italy &#8211; April 11, 2023 Italy coach Milena Bertolini before the match REUTERS\/Guglielmo Mangiapane\/File Photo<\/p>\n<p>(Reuters) &#8211; Milena Bertolini said she has left her role as Italy head coach after their group stage exit from the Women&#8217;s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Italy began with a 1-0 win over Argentina but were thrashed 5-0 by Sweden before being eliminated in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, when South Africa scored a stoppage-time winner to win 3-2 and leave Bertolini&#8217;s team third in Group G.<\/p>\n<p>Bertolini, 57, took charge in 2017 and oversaw Italy&#8217;s stunning run to the 2019 World Cup quarter-finals. Their early exit this year was another disappointment after the Euro 2022, where they finished bottom of their group with one point.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I leave the national team after so many beautiful and very intense years, which I will always carry with me,&#8221; Bertolini said on Sunday in a lengthy statement posted on her Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is not always possible to achieve positive results, but I have no doubts about everyone&#8217;s commitment and good intentions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A day after Italy&#8217;s exit, a statement on Instagram signed by &#8220;players of the national team&#8221; said the team were &#8220;not put in the condition&#8221; to succeed. The statement was shared by veteran forwards Cristiana Girelli and Barbara Bonansea, among others.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Too naive and obvious is the search for a scapegoat,&#8221; Bertolini said. &#8220;I do not feel any resentment and I have no reason to feel or look for a culprit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bertolini had said earlier Italy&#8217;s dented confidence after the 5-0 defeat to Sweden likely played a major part in their loss to South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were never afraid. But we didn&#8217;t feel there was a lot of confidence in us either,&#8221; the players&#8217; statement read.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The national team is made up of a core of 16 Roma and Juventus players. We think it&#8217;s fair to ask how come a national team made up of this group of players &#8230; struggles a lot first at the Euros and now a World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The feeling of regret is still strong because we came to this World Cup wanting redemption &#8230; We&#8217;re sure we could have got different results if only we&#8217;d been put in the condition to do so.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__extra_small__1Mw6v body__full_width__ekUdw body__extra_small_body__3QTYe sign-off__text__PU3Aj\">Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Stephen Coates<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2 body__base__22dCE body__small_body__2vQyf article-body__element__2p5pI article-body__trust-badge__D_brm\">\u79c1\u305f\u3061\u306e\u884c\u52d5\u898f\u7bc4\uff1a\u30c8\u30e0\u30bd\u30f3\u30fb\u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\u300c\u4fe1\u983c\u306e\u539f\u5247\u300d, opens new tab<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football &#8211; International Women&#8217;s Friendly &#8211; Italy v Colombia &#8211; Stad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2507892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784996],"tags":[14869,3391,763101,762734,570380,6804,133797,762812,6639,765772,574509,787963,765773,786369,12477],"class_list":{"0":"post-2507891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-blr","11":"tag-europ","12":"tag-isc","13":"tag-it","14":"tag-italy","15":"tag-mtpix","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-socc","18":"tag-spo","19":"tag-swcup","20":"tag-wcup","21":"tag-wspo","22":"tag-12477"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/114389487850093723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2507892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}