All posts tagged: italy world cup

What Gennaro Gattuso doesn’t understand: A World Cup cannot be just about strongest teams and richest pedigree | Football News

What Gennaro Gattuso doesn’t understand: A World Cup cannot be just about strongest teams and richest pedigree | Football News

Published by Webster

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 …

Gennaro Gattuso resigns as Italy manager after World Cup debacle | Football News

Gennaro Gattuso resigns as Italy manager after World Cup debacle | Football News

Published by Parlour News

3 min readApr 4, 2026 12:05 AM IST Italy’s failure to qualify for the third straight FIFA World Cup in a row has resulted in rolling of many heads in the footballing ecosystem of the nation. Former Italy international Gennaro Gattuso’s reign as Italy manager ended on Friday, the country’s football federation (FIGC) said, making it third high profile resignation in the last two days. Gattuso’s departure came a day after FIGC President Gabriele Gravina resigned, and national team delegation head Gianluigi Buffon stepped down from his role. Italy lost Tuesday’s playoff final in Bosnia on penalties and the ‌four-times champions have now missed out on three consecutive World Cups. “With a heavy heart, having failed to achieve the goal we had set ourselves, I consider my time in charge of the national team to be over,” Gattuso said in a statement. “The Azzurri shirt is the most precious asset in football, which is why it is right to facilitate future technical assessments with immediate effect. It has been an honour to lead the ⁠national …

Gianluigi Buffon announces resignation, Italy football federation president quits after another World Cup failure | Football News

Gianluigi Buffon announces resignation, Italy football federation president quits after another World Cup failure | Football News

Published by Webster

Italian soccer federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina resigned on Thursday, in the wake of the national team’s failure to qualify for a third straight World Cup. Gravina, in charge of the FIGC since 2018, had been urged by the government to step down after Italy’s defeat on penalties in the playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday. The federation will hold an extraordinary assembly on June 22 to elect a new chief, while Gravina offered to appear before a parliamentary committee on April 8 “to report on the state of health of Italian soccer”, a statement said. That hearing has now been cancelled, as the committee awaits the election outcome. The Italian soccer team last qualified for the World Cup in 2014 and has won only one match at the finals since lifting the trophy for the fourth time in 2006. Former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, national team delegation head, has also announced his resignation via social media. Gravina was elected unopposed in October 2018, the 72-year-old replacing Carlo Tavecchio who resigned a week after Italy …

After World Cup debacle, Italy warned of being dropped as Euro 2032 co-hosts due to poor infrastructure | Football News

After World Cup debacle, Italy warned of being dropped as Euro 2032 co-hosts due to poor infrastructure | Football News

Published by Webster

2 min readApr 2, 2026 09:44 PM IST UEFA president Alexander Ceferin has warned that Italy could lose their co-hosting rights for the 2032 European Championship unless the existing football infrastructure is upgraded. The development comes a day after the country failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for an unprecedented third consecutive time. It has led to the Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina stepping down from his position amid mounting criticism at home. “Euro 2032 is scheduled and will take place. I hope the infrastructure will be ready,” Ceferin told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Otherwise, the tournament will not be played in Italy.” The tournament is set to be co-hosted by Italy and Turkey. Italy boast some of the most iconic football stadiums but clubs that play in them have struggled with renovation work. With the exception of Juventus, almost every major club in Italy, including AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio and AS Roma, play at stadiums that are ultimately owned by public authorities. Ceferin expressed his support for Gravina , who is …

Why former AC Milan defender Alessandro Costacurta thinks it wasn’t Bastoni’s fault alone that Italy was out of World Cup qualification | Football News

Why former AC Milan defender Alessandro Costacurta thinks it wasn’t Bastoni’s fault alone that Italy was out of World Cup qualification | Football News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 2, 2026 08:28 PM IST Pinpointing the crucial moment when Alessandro Bastoni ended with a red card, after a clumsy challenge on Memic, former AC Milan defender Alessandro Costacurta said going back a few frames, might reveal how the long kick clearance from Gigi Donnarumma and Gianluca Mancini might have equally been responsible for the penalty conceded after Italy led 1-0. Bastoni, playing out of position, was careless no doubt but Costacurta told Sky Sports, that Mancini ought to have expected the header. “And even on the sending off, the carelessness isn’t just Bastoni’s. He made a mistake, but Mancini should expect the header and should start earlier, let’s not point the finger at Bastoni alone. On Donnarumma’s clearance, what was our situation? You have to expect the opponent to get it, and Mancini starts late on Donnarumma’s clearance, starts later, and so Bastoni goes in. It’s not just Bastoni’s fault, who obviously should never come on because it’s better to stay with 11 men anyway,” he explained. Costacurta also said the …

Italy miss out on FIFA World Cup again: The Good, The Bad, The Italy… the Worst | Football News

Italy miss out on FIFA World Cup again: The Good, The Bad, The Italy… the Worst | Football News

Published by Webster

4 min readUpdated: Apr 2, 2026 08:19 PM IST The World Cup qualification from hell for Italy, has turned into a never ending nightmare. Jokes have gotten old, coaches have seemed helpless and scapegoating Alessandro Bastoni just won’t cut it. Even talk of ‘structural changes’ seems jaded and four years old, as Bosnia and Herzegovina sent Gli Azzurri out of the third straight World Cup appearance after the 1-4 loss in penalty shootout in the European playoffs on Tuesday, after playing most of the match with 10 men. Voices emanating from Italy were filled with shock and disappointment. Head coach Gennaro Gattuso The head coach and World Cup winner from 2006, reckoned the hurt was too much. “I’m not interested at all in talking about my future today. It hurts, it really hurts. More than hurting me, it hurts to see this group which has really given everything in these months and I think we deserved to get back what we put in and I honestly think it’s too reductive and too immature to be …

Italy’s final step towards ending World Cup exile goes through ‘Dragon’s Nest’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Italy’s final step towards ending World Cup exile goes through ‘Dragon’s Nest’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Published by Webster

For Italy to end their World Cup exile, they need to slay the ‘dragon’ in the ‘dragon’s nest’ and beat the ‘curse’. Dragon is the name Bosnia and Herzegovina football team goes by, a wink to the legendary 19th century general Husein Kapetan Gradascevic – called the ‘Dragon of Bosnia’ – and Dragon’s Nest is their terrifying home arena called Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica. The ‘curse’ was that foreign teams always lost here, though post 2015, it has ceased to be a fortress. Only 9,000 spectators would watch the play-off, a number that could squeeze into one stand of Milan’s San Siro stadium, which could hold close to 80,000 spectators. But the visitors would not be pleased to know the reason why the arena, which resembles a postcard from the 1980s, will be half-empty. The stadium is serving a sanction after local supporters assaulted Romania’s fans, hurled abuses and blew firecrackers. Romania’s players confided that they never played in a more hostile or noisy atmosphere. The stands almost hug the ground; the technical area …

Italy’s 12-year FIFA World Cup wait: Can Gennaro Gattuso’s men end the exile? | Football News

Italy’s 12-year FIFA World Cup wait: Can Gennaro Gattuso’s men end the exile? | Football News

Published by Webster

Luigi Garlando, the Italian writer, penned an open letter to Gennaro Gattuso on Wednesday, adopting the voice of a 16-year-old fan. “I can’t become an adult,” he wrote in Gazzetta dello Sport, “get my driving license, and go to vote without having seen the national team at the World Cup at least once.” Garlando distilled the quiet anguish of an entire cohort, caught between trauma, desperation and longing. Above Garlando’s words sat a striking photograph: Marcello Lippi, Italy’s World Cup-winning coach, gripping his midfield general by the shoulder, eyes blazing, shouting, “Let’s go!” – a frozen echo of 2006, when glory felt permanent and the future unimaginable without it. “Gattuso has a strong squad and will do everything to ensure they finally return to the World Cup after such a long absence,” Lippi was quoted as saying. When the World Cup begins in just over two months, it will mark 12 years since Italy last appeared on football’s grandest stage – a tournament they have won four times, more than any nation bar Brazil (five) …

T20 World Cup: Who will sport flowing locks like Italian football legends Paolo Maldini and Roberto Baggio? | Cricket News

T20 World Cup: Who will sport flowing locks like Italian football legends Paolo Maldini and Roberto Baggio? | Cricket News

Published by Webster

The Moscas have lived in Sydney for three generations now. It is where the brothers – Anthony and Justin – picked up the cricket bat and ball in the dream of wearing the “Baggy Green” one day. The 31-year old Justin, a physical education teacher, is giving the Vietnamese community wings to fly. Anthony, 34, a carpenter who works at a juvenile centre, is reshaping broken lives. In the middle of all this, they have already made history by being part of the Italy team making its maiden appearance at a T20 World Cup. But all it takes for the Moscas to reveal their true colours is the mention of the ‘Azzurri’. “We both always wanted to be like Paolo Maldini or Roberto Baggio,” Anthony concedes. So much so that as Italy had a shot at qualifying for the T20 World Cup, the first thing that Justin did was grow his hair like Maldini’s long, flowing, feathered brown locks. “When I played football, I used to love sliding tackles because Maldini was the best at …

2025 reimagined: What if… Luciano Spalletti had stayed back as Italy coach | Football News

2025 reimagined: What if… Luciano Spalletti had stayed back as Italy coach | Football News

Published by Webster

What if former Italy coach Luciano Spalletti had not given up on the national team in its FIFA World Cup qualification bid, and inadvertently brought Gennaro Gattuso into the mix? It is very well to say that the Spalletti ship has sailed – it sailed straight into an iceberg of Erling Haaland proportions in the sorry 3-0 loss to Norway, after which the professorial tactician was so dismayed he declared his own departure. Italy play to plans, under geeky coaches marshalling gorgeous technicians at World Cups. Flair tends to be optional, at the discretion of the personnel; parked buses once second nature. But now, they go rumbling under buses like Jack in Speed. Unlike Jack of Titanic, they are mystifyingly alive still, hovering around jagged edges of icebergs, scoring an uncharacteristic 18-goal glut under Gattuso. But no guarantees it won’t sink against Wales and Northern Ireland, like they did to Sweden in 2018 and North Macedonia in 2022. Gattuso keeps press conferences entertaining, flagellates self and his players with equal gusto, has spurred them on …