Italy’s latest World Cup defeat saw the Azzurri fail to qualify for the 2026 World Cup painting In the play-off final, they faced Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1, but lost in a penalty shootout.
Italy’s World Cup defeat means the Azzurri have missed the last three World Cups.
The four-time world champions, who have produced the likes of Roberto Baggio, Paolo Rossi, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, last competed in the World Cup in 2014.
After Bastoni was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy played with 10 men from the 42nd minute.
Italy World Cup failure: Azzurri star misses 2026 World Cup
The World Cup failure happened despite Italy having some great players playing for some of Europe’s top teams.
Moise Kean scored against Bosnia and Herzegovina to set a new record of scoring in six consecutive international matches, thus breaking the record set by Salvatore Schillaci at the 1990 World Cup.
Nicolo Barella of the Italian team is a tireless midfielder. In the game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he kept dropping back to connect with the central defender and also provided an assist for Keane.
Manuel Locatelli and Sandro Tonali are also excellent midfielders, and Gianluigi Donnarumma is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Federico Dimarco is the left back of Inter Milan and the Italian team. He has played 28 games for Inter Milan this season and contributed 6 goals and 13 assists, which is impressive. It’s unheard of for a defender to dish out that many assists in a single season.
Still, there are some glaring weaknesses that will be Italy’s nemesis in the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The 26-year-old striker Mateo Retegui scored 11 goals in 28 games for the national team, but he spent the peak of his career playing in the Saudi Professional League, thus missing the opportunity to play in Europe and test himself among the best players.
Matteo Politano is an experienced player but not quite the right-wing back that Gattuso considers him to be.
The Napoli player was more of a winger and clearly didn’t enjoy the defensive responsibilities, meaning Barella had to drop deep to cover for him on several occasions against Bosnia.
This meant that Italy’s most creative player was busy helping out defenders for much of the game. Therefore, Gattuso cannot completely deny responsibility for Italy’s World Cup failure.
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Italy’s World Cup failure: Euro 2020 success seems a lifetime ago
Italy’s success at the 2021 World Cup was largely facilitated by the likes of Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne, all of whom retired shortly after the World Cup.
Donnarumma, Locatelli, Bastoni and Barrera are the survivors of that game and they still play for the national team.
They are the core of the future team, but Gattuso cannot deny the responsibility for Italy’s World Cup failure.
He is likely to be sacked as a result, but Italy’s World Cup qualifying defeat should have a more serious impact on the country’s football landscape as they continue to falter in their World Cup qualifying efforts.
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Credit: imagery / Gribaldi/ImagePhoto
Recording date: 31.03.2026
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