After the draw of the World Cup play-offs, Sabatini, who has served as sports director at Inter Milan and Roma, commented.

Italy’s opponent in the semi-finals of the World Cup play-offs is Northern Ireland. Sabatini first said: “We must avoid thinking that we were lucky in the draw. Northern Ireland is a very resilient nation, and we do not have an advantage in this regard. The results of football matches, especially national team matches, are often difficult to predict. I will not worry about this. To celebrate the draw result, Italian football should remain silent for now."

Sabatini went on to say: "Coach Gattuso should ask his fellow coaches to allow him to keep in touch with the national team players and follow up on the players' training every week. He obviously must participate personally and maintain communication and information exchange with the club coaches. There may be some contradictions, but Gattuso must become the second coach of the international players at the club and pay attention to their situation every day. If possible, there needs to be a closed system so that he can watch the training of the international players. Now some creative systems must be established. The league can only use innovation to solve complex situations. They have to be in top shape physically and mentally, otherwise it will be difficult to cope. Finally, Sabatini said: "Finally, let me end with an opinion about Northern Ireland. When I saw Best playing, I knew that when I grew up, I just wanted to play football."