Latest World Cup failure feels like Italy’s same sad old song on repeat
FABIO FERRARI/LAPRESSE/ SHUTTERSTOCK Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma trudges off after the playoff defeat by Bosnia and Herzegovina Azzurri blues Why do Italy play the same sad song over and over again? We will never know if Baggio’s proposals could have led to new outcomes Nicky Bandini 2 Apr 2026 - The Guardian The decline of Italy’s footballing expectations can be read in the headlines that greeted their third consecutive failure to qualify for a men’s World Cup. When the Azzurri lost their playoff against Sweden in November 2017, La Gazzetta dello Sport defined it as “The End”. After defeat by North Macedonia in 2022, Il Corriere dello Sport saw a country sinking “Into Hell”. Yesterday both newspapers led coverage of elimination by Bosnia and Herzegovina with a simpler, perhaps sadder, “Tutti a casa” – Everybody Go Home. Italians understood long ago that 2018 was the continuation of a trend, their team having failed to reach the tournament’s knockout stage in 2010 or 2014. Afte...