Italians woke up angry and disillusioned this Wednesday (1st) after their country’s team was left out of a World Cup for the third consecutive time.
The cover of the newspaper Corriere della Sera, the country’s main newspaper, called the series of eliminations in play-offs “the curse of the World Cup” and called for a reconstruction of Italian football, which has produced some of the best players in history, but has won just one game in World Cups (in 2014, against England, 2-1) since becoming four-time world champion, in 2006, in Germany.
Fans in Rome were shocked after the 4-1 penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia, after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The other playoff eliminations were for Sweden (for the 2018 World Cup) and North Macedonia (2022).
“Everything was bad from the beginning of the game. The team didn’t do well. There were players who weren’t playing well. It doesn’t make sense. Honestly I’m shocked,” says Davide Caladretta, who watched the game in a bar in the Italian capital.
“[Nos sentimos] really sad. Even when you are disappointed you have hope. And this is the third time in a row,” said fan Melanie Cardillo.
The Azurra last participated in a World Cup in 2014, in Brazil, when they were eliminated in the group stage. After beating England, they lost to Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Bosnia, whose only previous participation in World Cups took place in 2014, will be in Group B of this year’s World Cup, with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
Captain, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who did not save any penalty in the dispute, wrote on Instagram that he cried after the game.
“There is something that I feel very intensely inside me and I want to share with you: after a great disappointment, we must find the courage to turn the page, again. And to do that, we need strength, passion and conviction. And that is how we must start again. Together. Again. To take Italy back to where it deserves to be,” he wrote.
The defeat sparked criticism across the country, with political parties calling for the president of the Italian Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina, to resign from his position.
“It’s an unacceptable shame. Italian football needs a complete change, starting with the resignation of Gabriel Gravina,” said the League party, which is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, on Instagram.
Gravina stated that there will be an analysis of his situation at a meeting of the entity’s advisors next week.
Sports Minister Andrea Abodi described the play-off elimination as a “definitive defeat” and said Italian football needed a complete reconstruction.
Even actor Russell Crowe said he felt bad for Italy.”[Hoje é] a dark dawn for Italy. The day after failing to qualify. Again. How is this possible when you have so much talent?” he wrote in X.
