Italy head coach Cesare Prandelli has handed in his resignation after the Azzurri's premature exit from the 2014 World Cup following a controversial 0-1 loss against Uruguay.
The Italians, who started off pretty well by beating England 2-1 in their opening Group D fixture, were unable to progress to the final sixteen of the 2014 World Cup after back-to-back defeats against Costa Rica and Uruguay.
And Prandelli, who was appointed following Italy's first round exit in the 2010 World Cup under former boss Marcello Lippi, has confirmed that he has handed in his resignation to the president of FIGC (the Italian Football Federation).
"I talked to the president of the federation.. and gave my resignation. The technical set-up didn't work, and I take all responsibility for that. Something has changed since my contract was renewed. I don't know why. I chose a certain technical plan and that's why I'm resigning - because it did not work," the 56-year-old told reporters after Italy's loss against Uruguay.
The former Roma manager had some memorable moments with the Italian side when they reached the finals of the 2012 European Championships held in Poland and Ukraine.
Even though Italy suffered a humiliating 0-4 defeat to Spain in the finals, Prandelli received a lot of praise for guiding his side to the finals.
Prandelli, who says that he is proud of his achievements with Italy, insists that the sending off of Claudio Marchisio was the reason behind their defeat against Uruguay.
"A second European Championship, third at the Confederations [Cup] and the qualification obtained in advance should not be under-estimated. The match was well-balanced in equal numbers, but the sending-off changed it all."
Prandelli wasn't the only one to put in his papers as Ivory Coast head coach Sabri Lamouchi also resigned after his side's elimination from the 2014 World Cup.
The Ivorians, who were just minutes away from securing a place in the last sixteen, were thwarted after Giovanni Sio conceded a penalty in the 90th minute of the game.
And Lamouchi says that his resignation is very "logical" after his side's poor performances in the African Cup of Nations as well as the 2014 World Cup.
"My contract comes to an end at this World Cup and there will be no epilogue and you can understand well as to why. It is logical as we did not do well at last year's Africa Cup of Nations or at the World Cup finals."
Despite starting off very well with a 2-1 win over Japan, the Les Éléphants failed to advance from Group C following back-to-back defeats against Colombia and Greece.
And the 42-year-old Frenchman feels that their elimination was very cruel considering the amount of hard work they had put in over the past couple of years.
"I have put a lot of time and effort into the past two years, but unfortunately my story with Côte d'Ivoire ends this evening. The outcome is a cruel one but the Greeks did not steal this victory."
"I am very disappointed and sad, and also for the players and the Ivorian people. However, my career carries on and there will be other defeats, though I would have liked this adventure to finish in a different fashion."
