Italy faces play-off fate again after 20 golden years

Italy is at risk of having to play a play-off to win a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

In July 2006, Italy was awash with flags and tears of joy. Buffon, Cannavaro, Totti, Del Piero and Gattuso - all legendary names - brought home the fourth World Cup for the country shaped like a boot. But twenty years later, as the Italians prepare to celebrate that glorious achievement, the "Azzurri" are sinking into anxiety: they may have to play a third consecutive play-off to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

After losing to Germany in the Nations League quarter-finals in March, Italy entered the qualifying campaign in a group consisting of Norway, Moldova, Estonia and Israel. On paper, it was a comfortable group. But the reality was a shock: in their opening game, they were thrashed 3-0 by Erling Haaland’s Norway, and from there, the door to a direct trip to the US was all but closed.

As the qualifiers entered the final stages, Norway maintained a perfect record, with a goal difference of +26, while Italy, despite winning all their remaining matches, only had a goal difference of +10. The 16-goal gap - combined with Haaland's terrible form - left the Italians with almost no chance of catching up.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso, Berlin’s former hero, knows that better than anyone. “The match against Norway will be a real battle. We need a warrior spirit,” he told the media. “The play-offs are a safety cushion, but Italy must qualify directly to have confidence going into the World Cup.”

Coach Gennaro Gattuso is trying to revive the Italian team.

However, such optimistic words hardly obscure the reality: Italy is almost certain to have to participate in the play-offs - for the third time in a row after two terrible shocks in 2018 and 2022. For a football nation that has won the world championship four times, that is hardly acceptable.

If this tragedy were to happen, it would be the worst slump in the history of the Azzurri. Since 2006, Italy have not advanced past the group stage of the World Cup, being eliminated early in 2010 and 2014, and then absent twice in a row. Even winning Euro 2020 was not enough to fill the increasingly deep cracks in the Italian football system.

The rapid change in European football over the past two decades has left Italy seemingly lost. Once a footballing powerhouse that produced legendary defenders like Baresi, Maldini and Cannavaro, they now struggle with a fragile defence and a style of play lacking identity. The qualities that have defined Italy – character, tenacity, organisation and the ability to withstand pressure – have faded.

Gattuso, now a coach, still tries to instill in his players the spirit of “famiglia” – the family spirit and relentless fighting spirit that he once symbolised. “The most important thing now is to find the enthusiasm and belief again. Technique and tactics are secondary,” he stressed. But that is easier said than done.

The current Italian squad lacks consistency in quality.

Players like Chiesa, Barella, Retegui and Frattesi have energy and technique, but lack the consistency and the “steel” that once made up the team’s soul. Veterans like Donnarumma and Jorginho are gradually losing their form. Gattuso’s team is therefore like a version of Italy mixed between the past and present – beautiful but lacking in mental strength.

Italy's problems lie not only on the pitch, but also in the system. Serie A clubs are giving fewer and fewer opportunities to their homegrown players, while youth academies are no longer consistently producing world-class talent. Even the most loyal Italian football fans have to admit: the "Azzurri" are missing a new golden generation.

In that context, having to play a third consecutive play-off is like an “ironic gift” on the 20th anniversary of the world championship. Italians can console themselves that history always turns around, that they overcame adversity to win the title in 1982 and 2006. But at present, no one is sure that will happen again.

If Italy cannot find itself again, they will forever be stuck in the shadow of the past – where glorious memories are repeated over and over again, while reality is full of salvage tickets and regrets.

Twenty years after Berlin, the team that once made the world bow down is now fighting to avoid becoming a memory. And that, perhaps, is the greatest tragedy of modern Italian football.

Source: https://znews.vn/italy-lai-doi-mat-dinh-menh-play-off-sau-20-nam-vang-son-post1594293.html