What Gennaro Gattuso doesn’t understand: A World Cup cannot be just about strongest teams and richest pedigree | Football News
Maybe, Italy’s coach Gennaro Gattuso knew his team would not qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup last year itself. In a rant last December that had been fished up again and circulated as a reflection of a flawed system he bemoaned the diversely unequal routes teams from different continents take to reach the World Cup. “If we look at South America, where six out of 10 teams go directly to the World Cup and the seventh heads into a play-off with a team from Oceania,” he pointed out. “That does give you regrets and a certain sadness.” In a roundabout way, he was implying that the tournament is being over-run by underdogs through easy paths while statistically-better teams are sitting out. There were factual inaccuracies. Like the seventh-placed team in CONMEBOL does not necessarily play a team from Oceania. In the end, the Latin America country lost to Iraq, from the Asian confederation. He lamented the extra berths to African countries. “In 1990 and 1994, there were two African teams. In my day, the …
