Coach Gennaro Gattuso apologized for Italy’s fall in the 2026 World Cup playoff. The team lost on penalties to Bosnia, away from home, after a 1-1 draw, and was left out of the world’s main football tournament for the third consecutive edition.
The four-time world champions opened the scoring at the beginning, but were complicated by the expulsion of defender Bastoni at the end of the first half. The Bosnian team sought a draw in the final stage and, after a goalless extra time, were happier with shots from the penalty spot: 4-1.
“Today the boys did not deserve such a punishment,” Gattuso, with tears in his eyes, told RAI.
“We were left with ten players, we had three reasonable chances, and they barely threatened us. I’m sorry, this is football, I’m proud of my boys. It hurts, because we needed this for ourselves, for the whole of Italy and for our movement. A difficult blow to digest,” he added.
Gattuso and his players complained a lot when a foul by Tarik Muharemovic on the edge of the area only resulted in a yellow card at the start of extra time. After the duel, however, the coach preferred not to comment on refereeing decisions.
“I don’t want to talk about anything, but today was unfair. I’ve been in the world of football for years, sometimes I was happy and today I’m getting beaten up. We’re saying for the umpteenth time that we’re not going to the World Cup. I apologize for not being able to do it, but the boys impressed me today.”
‘My future is not important’
Gattuso, who replaced Luciano Spalletti at the start of the qualifying campaign following the defeat to Norway, was asked about his future.
“Today talking about my future is not important, what was important was going to the World Cup”, he replied.
The president of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation), Gabriele Gravina, stated that he asked Gattuso to continue.
“Allow me to congratulate the boys. In recent months they have had incredible growth, many of you have not been able to appreciate the climate and the atmosphere”, said the leader.
“I want to congratulate Rino Gattuso. He is a great coach, I asked him to continue in charge of these boys. There is little to comment, the coach called them heroic. Afterwards, I understand that there are several assessments to be made.”
Gravina himself is under extreme pressure at the helm of Italian football, given his repeated failures.
“For the political part, there is a place to make the assessments, which is the Federal Council. I have already decided to convene it next week, there will be assessments carried out internally. I understand the request for resignation given the situation, but there is a suitable place to make the assessments”, concluded Gravina.
