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Watching 10-man Italy blow their last chance to qualify for this summer’s Geopolitics World Cup, Football Daily couldn’t help but remember the schoolmasterly ticking-off with which the legendary commentator Barry Davies admonished a similarly depleted team of their predecessors 24 years ago. That particular iteration of Italy had at least made it to the summer jamboree, but upon seeing them being dumped out in the last 16 by co-hosts South Korea at Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Davies said what the rest of us were thinking: “And the Italians are out because they never learn,” he clucked. Of course, it could also be argued the Italians were out because they were the victims of what could charitably described as a series of farcical refereeing decisions, but their natural inclination towards extreme caution certainly didn’t help.
Italy’s once comical (and often successful) over-reliance on Catenaccio was all too evident in Zenica on Tuesday night after Rino Gattuso’s team went a goal up and a man down against a Bosnia and Herzegovina side who equalised with 11 minutes of normal time remaining before claiming their place at the GWC through spot-kicks. Having been spotted celebrating their hosts’ penalty shootout win over Wales last week, assorted members of the Italy squad could be seen crying salty tears when Esmir Bajraktarevic beat Gianluigi Donnarumma from 12 yards, preventing the four-times winners from making it to the World Cup for the third time on the bounce. While Italy squandered at least one excellent chance to double their lead before losing Alessandro Bastoni to a red card, Bosnia and Herzegovina ran out more than worthy winners and, as is customary, the Italian press greeted their team’s failure with the kind of calm and measured criticism we’ve come to expect.
