Drama in Italy: will not play the World Cup for the third consecutive time

BarcelonaDrama in Italy. The Italian national team has fallen in penalties against Bosnia and for the third consecutive year will not be at a World Cup. If eight years ago they were eliminated by Sweden and four years ago they fell against North Macedonia, today it was against the Bosnians in a match where Moise Kean scored 0-1, but a red card to Bastoni before halftime conditioned everything. The Bosnians equalized thanks to Tabakovic with 10 minutes left and the match was decided in the penalty shootout, where Pio Exposito and Cristante missed their penalties.

The Italians, a team with four World Cups won that had also won the 2012 European Championship, have now gone three World Cups in a row without qualifying, something that had never happened before. The last World Cup they had played in was the one in Brazil in 2014, when they were eliminated in the group stage. A World Cup that was also the first for Bosnia, who will now return to a final phase for the second time in a match where their star player, Edin Dzeko, has ended up injured.

After finishing behind Norway in the group stage, Gattuso's team had defeated Northern Ireland in the semifinals but today have fallen against the Bosnians in a match where the red card for Alessandro Bastoni, a player of interest to Barça, was key. Bastoni had already received a lot of criticism this season for unsportsmanlike conduct, such as when he feigned an aggression during an Inter-Juve match, and has ended up at the center of criticism from a team that has claimed a possible handball by Dzeko in the play that led to the Bosnians' equalizer, who had carried the weight of the game.

Gattuso had taken charge of the team after Luciano Spalletti's dismissal about a year ago and with him, the team had managed to improve results, but without achieving their goal of being in the World Cup. "We had three chances to score, it's a shame, this is football. I am proud of my boys, it hurts me because this World Cup was important for us, for our families, for all of Italy... A hard blow for everyone, I apologize," said the coach.

The Italians, last champions in 2006, did not advance from the group stage in 2010 and 2014. And then, the drama with three defeats in the play-offs against the Swedes, Macedonians, and now the Bosnians. Previously, Italy had played in all World Cups except two, in 1930 when they withdrew and in 1958 when they were eliminated by Northern Ireland.

Lewandowski, no World Cup

In the other duels, Lewandowski's Poland has fallen 3-2 against the Swedes. Turkey has broken Kosovo's heart and returns to a World Cup after 24 years and finally, the Danes have been eliminated by the Czechs also on penalties. The match ended 2-2 and on penalties, the Czech Republic did not miss.

With these matches, all the European teams qualified for the World Cup are now known. The Czech Republic completes group A with Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, while Turkey will go to the group formed by Paraguay, the United States and Australia, as decided by the draw last December.

Bosnia is in group B, where it will compete with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland; and Sweden will play in the first phase of the World Cup against the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia. The complete configuration of the groups is still pending the results of the two remaining international playoffs, with the duels between Jamaica and Congo, the winner of which will play in the World Cup against Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia in group K, and Iraq against Bolivia, the winner of which will be in the quartet of France, Senegal and Norway.