It’s really unbelievable that four-time world champions Italy, for the third time running, failed to qualify for the World Cup to be held later this year in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Never before has a World Cup winner missed out on qualification three times straight.
It’s indeed a sad story for Italian and international football, but sadder still for those who have never played in a World Cup and probably will never play in a World Cup. But had Italy qualified, they would have made a name for themselves at the international level in June-July later this year.
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Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Gianluca Mancini, Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Matteo Politano, Nicolo Barella, Manuel Locatelli, Sandro Tonali, Federico Dimarco, Moise Kean and Mateo Rategui — the playing XI that took the field in the play-off final loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday — and many others in the squad will probably never know what it feels like to play in a World Cup.
The kind of celebrity status that Italian legends Paolo Maldini, Alessandro del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon — the latter two were part of the World Cup-winning team in 2006 — enjoyed through their spectacular shows in World Cups… the players from the current crop will probably never know what it’s like to be in their wonderful shoes, and feel loved, admired and worshipped all over the world, not just in Italy.
Italy won Euro 2020 and gave some hopes of resurrection, but six years on, it has proved to be a false dawn. If truth be told, the degradation of Italian football started right on the heels of their failure to make it to the Round of 16 in 2014. Marco Verratti, Mattia De Sciglio, Lorenzo Insigne and Mattia Perrin — all 21-plus in 2014, would have had no inkling at the time that they wouldn’t be part of another World Cup campaign for Italy. Can you believe that?
Some of the superstars from that campaign, like Mario Balotelli, Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Motta and Giorgio Chiellini, wouldn’t have had any inkling either, of the impending doom in Italian football.
Defender Matteo Darmian is the only footballer from the 2014 campaign who is still active today in Serie A.
What a shame!
It has to be said that the sun has set permanently on some of the names that participated in the qualification rounds. At the age of 33, defender Leonardo Spinazzola is definitely not going to entertain hopes of participating in the 2030 World Cup. Midfielder Bryan Cristante (31) and forward Politano (32) sail in the same boat and are unlikely to feature in the World Cup in 2030.
Indeed, the stars that could have been.
The fallout of yet another terrible campaign has started. Gabriele Gravina, head of Italy’s football association, has put in his papers. Buffon, working in the capacity of delegation head with the men’s team, has also decided to quit. There is no word on Gennaro Gattuso, manager of the team and part of the 2006 winning team as a player, as of now, as regards what he intends to do following the humiliation. To all intents and purposes, Italian football has descended into an abyss from which the return could take forever.
