Italy coach Roberto Mancini says luck was a factor in missing the World Cup.
Mancini was speaking after last night's Nations League win against England.
He said, “We rebooted in June and were always in the running in this Nations League group. Clearly, we need these games, these wins, so we can grow.
“I expected a good performance and knew it would be difficult, because many of tonight's lads are inexperienced at this level, with not even 30 per cent of England's caps, but I think we won deservedly.
“I don't think we threw anything away, football has an element of luck to it. We won the Euros on penalties, we deserved to win it, then failed to qualify for the World Cup after two games we dominated and did not win against Switzerland.
“We made mistakes too, that is obvious. I don't know if today was our best performance of the Nations League, we did well against Hungary and Germany too."
