3 min readApr 1, 2026 09:14 AM IST A teary-eyed Italian coach, Gennaro Gattuso, was emotional and apologetic after his side suffered a heartbreaking loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a World Cup playoff match in a penalty shootout on Tuesday, missing out on their third consecutive FIFA World Cup. Gattuso refused to talk about his future, saying it was “not important.” “Today the boys didn’t deserve a beating like this,” an emotional Gattuso told RAI. “We were left with 10 players, we had three decent chances, and they barely troubled us. I’m sorry. This is football, and I’m proud of my boys. It hurts because we needed it for us, for all of Italy, and for our movement. A blow that’s difficult to digest,” he said. Italy suffered a stinging exit from the World Cup qualification race after losing to Bosnia in a tense penalty shootout, 4–1, marking their third consecutive failure to reach the global tournament. Four-time World Cup winners Italy took an early lead in Zenica, but after going down to 10 …