Mancini: Italy too wasteful
But Chiellini and di Lorenzo not worried after a drawing blank against Swiss
Italy broke the record for the longest unbeaten run in international football after they were held to a goalless draw by Switzerland in a World Cup qualifier yesterday morning (Singapore time), with Jorginho again missing a penalty.
Italy have not lost for 36 consecutive matches, breaking the 35-match unbeaten run record that had previously been shared by Spain and Brazil. Brazil's record was set between 1993 and 1996, while Spain's took place from 2007 to 2009.
Despite the record, the European champions' coach Roberto Mancini was annoyed by his side's profligacy during their Group C qualifier at St Jakob-Park.
The draw was the third time Italy have failed to find the net under Mancini and ended the Azzurri's run of scoring in 17 consecutive matches.
His tenure, which began in May 2018, has yielded 30 wins, 10 draws and just two defeats, during which Italy have scored 100 goals and conceded only 23.
Mancini told RAI Sport: "This is a moment when the ball just isn't going in. Once again, we had too many chances not to win this game.
"It's not the penalty, it's other situations, we need to be more determined, more clinical, more precise. Just like with Bulgaria (1-1), it's another match we cannot fail to win with that many scoring opportunities created.
"It was tougher in the second half, but we had the chances in the first half and the second."
The Swiss have seven points from three games, while Italy are on 11 points from five, and the result in Basel means November's reverse fixture between the sides in Italy could prove pivotal in deciding who tops the group and qualifies automatically for Qatar 2022.
The Azzurri have drawn their last two matches and required penalty shoot-outs to prevail in their two games before that.
Italy's best chance in Basel came in the 52nd minute, but Jorginho, who missed a spot-kick in the Euro 2020 final penalty shoot-out win over England, saw his penalty saved by Yann Sommer.
Domenico Berardi and Lorenzo Insigne also missed good chances after they were thwarted by Sommer.
"Today we played a great match, better even than the 3-0 win against Switzerland in June (in the Euro 2020 group stage), but we just could not score," defender Giorgio Chiellini told RAI Sport.
"I liked our play a lot today. There were many positives."
Fellow defender Giovanni di Lorenzo agreed, telling RAI Sport: "It's just not going in at the moment, perhaps it's a lack of determination or precision. But we'd be more worried if we didn't create the opportunities at all... but we can build on this for Wednesday."
Italy host Lithuania on Thursday morning, while the Swiss travel to Northern Ireland.
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