‘Today there is great disappointment’ – Inside Europe on Italy’s failure to qualify for 2022 World Cup

Italy haven’t won a World Cup play-off game since they won the tournament itself in 2006. They won’t get a chance to win another one until 2026. Credit to Nicky Bandini on Twitter for that nugget and it is truly astonishing when you consider Italy as one of the real powerhouses of world football.

Ad/> /> World Cup Qualification UEFA‘It will haunt me for the rest of my life’ – Jorginho reflects on penalty misses as Italy eliminated3 HOURS AGO Heck, this team won the European Championships less than a year ago but now won’t be at the World Cup after a shambolic qualifying period. In order to get a little bit more information we got in touch with Simone Eterno and Carlofilippo Vardelli from Eurosport Italy to get some reaction to the disaster. “Italy could have easily been in the World Cup,” began Eterno.

“But they missed two penalties in the two decisive matches against group winners Switzerland (both by Chelsea’s Jorginho). “If those had been scored we wouldn’t be in this situation.” In the group stage, Italy scored just 13 goals. For reference, of all the teams to finish in the top two places of their group only Sweden and Ukraine scored fewer.

“It is true this is a team that struggles to score goals,” admitted Eterno. “The best player in the squad, Federico Chiesa, is out with a torn ligament, and without him Italy has an average collection in terms of goalscorers. “Ciro Immobile and his ‘fake goals’ are a classic case of this.