Could Italy Really Miss the World Cup Again?

In partnership with GOAL.com

Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso and captain Gianluigi Donnarumma both attended the inauguration of the new museum of football at Coverciano on Wednesday. Gattuso was meant to donate the boots he wore in the 2006 World Cup final win over France but revealed that his mother refused to give them up.

The museum isn't short of precious artefacts from Italy's glorious past, though, and their current coach admitted, "It's emotional to be here, because there are so many wonderful memories."

Unfortunately, the silverware also served as a tangible and very painful reminder of just how far the national team has fallen in recent years. Italy may have won Euro 2020, but they've failed to qualify for the past two World Cups, so while Donnarumma admitted that he felt goosebumps walking around the museum, the Azzurri captain also admitted to feeling "a lot of responsibility" tao ensure that the four-time champions do not miss out on a third consecutive finals.

As it stands, though, it remains a distinct possibility ...

Despite the fact that Italy hadn't sat out a World Cup since 1958, the play-off loss to Sweden in November 2017 didn't actually come as that much of a surprise, given how badly the team had been performing under the hopelessly out-of-his-depth Gian Piero Ventura.

However, the failure to make it to Qatar 2022 sent shockwaves through the peninsula. Roberto Mancini's Azzurri were the reigning European champions and would have won their group had it not been for shocking levels of profligacy before suffering an even more ignominious play-off defeat - this time at home to North Macedonia.

Mancini was allowed to continue as coach - not least because it was clear that Italian football's problems