The World Cup for Italy was and remains a great illusion, now turned into a nightmare for every "azzurri" fan. Believe it or not, but Italy, the 4-time World Cup winners, once again find themselves outside the most important tournament. For the third time in a row, Italy will follow the World Cup from the couch, an extremely bitter end that confirms once again that Italy is not only no longer a protagonist, no longer part of the elite, but is a representative, a football totally in crisis. They celebrated for a long time for the fact that in the "play-off" final they would face Bosnia and Herzegovina, but ironically, Bosnia leaves them at home, with the small Balkan representative securing a ticket to the "FIFA2026" World Cup. The union of legends, those who know how to win a World Cup, with Gattuso, Buffon, Bonucci etc., has no effect, this time in the role of coaches and management staff experiencing one of the biggest disappointments in their careers.
In the “hell” of Zenica, Italy immediately found itself in the lead, where in the 15th minute, Kean took advantage of a blunder by the Bosnian goalkeeper and with a spectacular finish gave Italy the lead. To complicate this final for Italy, the most controversial man of the moment, Bastoni, thought, with the “azzurri” center-back who intervened incorrectly and was punished directly with a red card.
Despite being one man down, Kean had a chance to score the second goal at the start of the second half, when he made a quick run into the attack and sent the ball just over the crossbar. From that moment on, Italy tried to defend the result, but Tabakovic, who had just been brought on the pitch, in the 79th minute sent the ball into the net, causing the stadium to erupt in celebration. With the score at 1-1, the fate of this final went to extra time, where Bosnia was superior again, but the result remained unchanged, causing the ticket to the World Cup to go through penalty shootout. At this point, Bosnia was perfect, scoring 4 out of 4 penalties, while for Italy, Pio Esposito and Cristante made mistakes, causing the "azurre" to experience another dark evening, a very bitter elimination that was experienced as a drama in Italy:
"Everyone at home. Italy missed the World Cup for the third time in a row," writes La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Everyone home. Third failure", was the title chosen by Corriere dello Sport"Everyone run away. Bosnia celebrates with a penalty. Italy out of the World Cup for the third time in a row," was the title selected by TuttoSport.
