Italy fall short on penalties and will now miss another WC
Italy are set to miss out on yet another World Cup after failing to get past Bosnia & Herzegovina. Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup has raised serious questions about the Italian Federation and the future of Italian football. This saw the Italian Federation President and Italian coach leave their jobs following the defeat. Stay analyse the decline of Italian football and look at what went wrong for the Azzurri over the last 10 years.
How the Azzurri fell from grace
If you are wondering how and why Italian football came to this point you would be among many who witnessed the fall of one of the greatest national teams football has ever seen. One would think that a squad graced with such immense talent would belong on the greatest stage. Many attribute their recent failures to deep systemic issues within the Federation. The Italian team has struggled to generate enough revenue which has prevented them from competing with other big nations. Another factor is the decline of Italian forwards produced by clubs. Since the likes of Totti and Del Piero Italy has failed to produce elite level strikers who can carry Italy over the line in tournaments. This goes on to highlight the struggles that Italian football has been facing within their grassroots academies. The Calcionetto aren’t quite producing strikers that once caused defenders’ hearts to skip a beat.
How will Italy bounce back
The fact that coaches in Serie A also opt to play foreign talents like Lautaro Martinez and Paulo Dybala over fresh emerging talents does not give strikers the opportunity to develop. When Italy went onto win Euro 2021 everyone thought that the Azzurri were finally back. Only for that same exact team to get eliminated by North Macedonia in extra time. You can also almost feel that there is a lack of composure within this team and that winning mentality just does not happen to be there anymore. Perhaps the departure of Gravina, Gattusso and Buffon could be a good thing; it could provide an opportunity for this Italian team to hit the reset button. However one thing is for sure and that is this team has a lot of rebuilding to do over the next four years.
