The Italian national football team is going through the worst crisis in its history, having failed to qualify for three consecutive World Cups and not getting past the group stage since 2006, when it was champion. According to the Argentine News Agency, the 'Azzurra' team lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in the final stage of the second qualifying round of UEFA, so it will not access the 2026 World Cup. Amid the scandal, the country's Ministry of Sports convened a meeting of leaders from all categories of the country, with various invitations also for coaches and players, and promised major changes in the leadership of the Italian Federation. It is no longer a surprise, although it remains scandalous: the Italian national team is out of the next World Cup, missing the last three World Cups, being immersed in the worst crisis in its history in sports. Little remains of that historic Italian team, with innovative coaches and famous for its defensive order with the 'Catenaccio' system, which was set aside years ago to make way for a style more similar to that used by other countries in Europe, but which has not given results. Italy is a major football country since the beginning of the World Cup. Despite being a seeded team and having historical figures in the technical staff such as Gennaro Gattuso, Gianluigi Buffon, and Leonardo Bonucci, the Azzurra again showed a loss of identity and failed to qualify. This episode adds to a string of recent failures: the elimination against Sweden in the playoff that left Italy out of the World Cup for the first time since 1958; the humiliating fall against North Macedonia in the playoff for the Qatar World Cup; and the recent campaign in the qualifiers where, despite accumulating six wins in eight matches, it finished second behind a perfect Norway. In the final stage of the playoff, Italy opened with a 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, but in the decisive match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, nerves betrayed them again. The bad streak began heading to Russia 2018, in which Italy finished second in the UEFA Group G, relegated to the internal playoff. Italy was out of the World Cup after losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which sealed another dark page in the history of Italian football. After a 1-1 draw in regular time, penalties missed by forward Pio Esposito and midfielder Bryan Cristante determined the visitors' elimination. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will play only its second World Cup since independence, it was a historic qualification; for Italy, another renewal of questions about its football course and the effectiveness of its Federation's decisions. Thus, despite having harvested a runner-up in Euro 2012, a third place in the 2013 Confederations Cup, and the title in Euro 2020, beating England in the final, Italy accumulates failure after failure in the World Cups and will have to wait, at least, another four years to play a World Cup again. Being the host of the second World Cup in history in 1934, the team got its first star, in a team in which the participation of three Argentine players can be highlighted: Raimundo Orsi and Luis Monti, historic players of Independiente and San Lorenzo in the amateur era, and Attilio Demaría. In 1938, in a World Cup held in France, Italy defeated the powerful Hungary 4-2 in the final, to become the first champion team without being the host, the first two-time champion and the World Cup winner, a milestone that held until 1970, when Brazil obtained its third World Cup in Mexico, defeating precisely the Italians. After a fourth place in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, and led by top scorer Paolo Rossi, Italy was world champion in Spain 1982 and obtained two medals in the next three events (third as host in 1990 and runner-up in 1994), until reaching 2006, when it was champion again in the World Cup in Germany by defeating France in the final, on penalties. From then on, the Italian team did not have success again in the World Cups. The worst World Cup in its history was the one held in South Africa 2010, to which it arrived as defending champion, finishing in last place in group F without adding a single win, with draws against Paraguay and New Zealand, in addition to a fall with Slovakia that sentenced its fate. Its fall in the group stage of the Brazil 2014 World Cup finds justification in having been drawn in the memorable 'group of death', which it had to share with England, Uruguay, and Costa Rica, although the surprise given by the Central American team, which topped the round in the first place and reached the quarterfinals, ended up sinking its performance as a resounding failure, after a single victory against the British team. But, although it seemed unlikely, the worst was yet to come.
