Carlo Ancelotti has blamed Italy's failure to qualify for three successive World Cups on their inability to develop top-class defenders as they did in the past.
The Azzurri, four-time winners of FIFA's flagship international tournament, suffered an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina in last month's play-offs.
They are the first former World champions to fail to qualify for three consecutive editions of the competition, having also missed out on Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
They had only failed to participate in two of the first 20 editions, declining to participate in 1930 and missing out on qualification in 1958.
One Italian footballing great who will be present in North America is Ancelotti, who is hoping to lead Brazil to a record-extending sixth world crown.
And when asked where his home nation had fallen short in recent years, the former AC Milan and Real Madrid boss pointed to two specific areas.
"The fundamental difference is the pace," Ancelotti said in an interview with Il Giornale.
"Not just the physical running, but the mental pace, the intensity, which is not an empty word and cannot be applied only in certain phases of the match.
"Italian football has lost exactly that. It has also lost solidity.
"We already lack talent in other areas of the pitch, but the excessive focus on tactics has distorted our characteristics, the ones on which we have always built our history.
"Either we recover defenders, or rather the defensive mentality that has brought us club and national team success, or we will continue to suffer.
"Football is not only about scoring more goals than your opponent, but also about conceding fewer. That's not a trivial statement."
Ancelotti also noted the impact of Serie A's relative weakness compared to the rest of Europe's top five leagues, with no Italian clubs reaching the semi-finals in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League.
"The great foreign players no longer come to Italy. Abroad, with substantial TV rights and powerful investors, there is a more attractive market," he said.
"So in Serie A, there are no longer internationally outstanding players like Falcao, [Diego] Maradona, [Michel] Platini, [Ruud] Krol, [Karl-Heinz] Rummenigge, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and all the others from a distant era.
"Who do young Italian players learn from?"
Italy sacked head coach Gennaro Gattuso after their failure to qualify for the World Cup, with Antonio Conte touted for a return to the Azzurri job after previously coaching the team from 2014 to 2016.