Azzurri, no miracle: the Bosnians go to the World Cup and beat us from the spot. The great illusion and the suffering of numerical inferiority: now trial and re-foundation.
We’re outside. Still. For the third time in a row without a World Cup. Punished by Bosnia in a night of suffering and recriminations, beaten on penalties, condemned by errors from the spot by Esposito and Cristante at the end of a dramatic match, played for too long in numerical inferiority and lived in defense except in the rare moments in which the Azzurri managed to reappear in the Bosnian half of the field.
Out. Humble yourself. It was the most important night of the year for Italian football and we got it wrong. Of course, there will be much to discuss about the choice of the Frenchman Turpin, the same one who accompanied us in Palermo in the defeat against North Macedonia, not to oust Muharemovic and re-establish parity on the pitch. A mistake which, however, must not erase everything else and everything else is a disappointment that calls for a refoundation.
Kean’s goal at the dawn of the match had given the illusion that it could be done. Bastoni’s expulsion, the last in a chain of errors all concentrated in the same action, made the Zenica stadium become even more hell than it was. It’s difficult to play almost an entire match with one man less against a physically intense and technically gifted opponent, who created constant dangers especially on the outside and who overall didn’t demerit going to the World Cup in our place.
It’s an impossible blow to digest. We haven’t been to the World Cup since 2014 and we won’t be back, assuming we make it, before 2030. A geological era and a very bitter verdict that will force us to open trials on what we are and what we can be. Sweden had been a sudden knockout blow. North Macedonia arrived still carrying the joy of winning the European Championship at Wembley. Bosnia is something different even if, paradoxically, less unexpected because since June Italy knew it was dancing on a tightrope and that tightrope finally broke.
Gattuso’s tears are striking because they come from the heart. It will take some time to metabolize the disappointment while we will have to hurry to find a direction for the boat of Italian football. It is no mystery that there are those who will have rejoiced in seeing Italy beaten by Bosnia in the hope of settling their accounts with Gravina and the Football Federation. It is honest to say, however, that this time everyone was rowing on the same side, sensing the danger. It wasn’t enough. Let’s stay at home. It hurts but it is a verdict that we must accept by returning to take care of things in our home.
