Italy is the birthplace of soccer greats like Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo. Its relationship to the sport is "an unbreakable bond that has woven itself into the very fabric of Italian society," according to Football Italia. And that makes Tuesday's result especially heartbreaking. Handed a penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the four-time World Cup champion will miss soccer's biggest stage for the third straight time, extending an absence that now stretches back to 2014, per the Wall Street Journal.
"I apologize to Italy," said a tearful coach Gennaro Gattuso, whose team took an early lead before a first-half red card to Alessandro Bastoni turned the match. Bosnia equalized late, then outlasted the Azzurri on penalties, with Pio Esposito skying the first Italian attempt and Bryan Cristante hitting the bar—misses that revived painful memories of Roberto Baggio in 1994 and Luigi Di Biagio in 1998.
The failure means Italian kids in middle school have never seen their country at a World Cup, even as Italy flourishes elsewhere in sports, from record Winter Olympic success to F1 leader Kimi Antonelli. The Journal calls it "a new low" for Italian soccer. Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport describes a continuing "apocalypse." In its last two World Cup appearances, Italy failed to make it out of the group stage. It last did so in 2006, the year it beat France. As one disappointed fan tells the BBC, "The golden days of Italian football are well and truly gone." Says another, "Everyone should resign."
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