Tuesday’s Stunning Upset Extends Italy’s World Cup Drought

The Azzuri’s World Cup woes won’t be ending any time soon.

Italy’s national team entered its UEFA World Cup Playoff Final on Tuesday as a heavy favorite to win and end a 12-year absence from the tournament. However, they found themselves watching Bosnia & Herzegovina celebrate a stunning upset decided by penalty kicks. The Azzuri had led the match for 64 minutes, making the loss all the more painful for their tortured fanbase.

With the loss, Italy becomes the first former champion to fail to qualify for three consecutive World Cups.

Bastoni Draws Ire of Fans

For the first 40 minutes, Italy seemed to be destined to end its embarrassing World Cup drought. One minute later, everything changed.

One minute later, things changed as goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma sent an ugly goal kick that Bosnia’s Amar Memic intercepted. Italian defender Alessandro Bastoni acted without thinking, making a poor challenge to prevent an open shot on goal. It resulted in a red card, sending the Inter Milan star off and leaving the Azzuri shorthanded.

Italy allowed a goal in the 79th minute, but had played well with just 10 men on the pitch. Getting the game to penalty kicks was a massive achievement, but it left the team too exhausted to capitalize.

The 26-year-old wasn’t playing well before the ill-timed challenge, making him the center of blame for angry fans. 

Expanded Field Adds to Pain of Italy’s Woes

While this will be the third consecutive World Cup Italy has missed, this year’s failure will sting more.

The 2026 World Cup will feature the largest field in its long history. FIFA added 16 more spots to the field, bringing the total from 32 to 48. That meant Italy’s odds to qualify would be much higher, especially given the talent the squad has. 

Soccer betting sites had Italy as the top favorite to qualify through the UEFA playoffs. 

Group Play Showed Cracks

While most of the soccer world believed Italy would qualify for the World Cup, there was reason to question how good this team was.

During group play, we saw the Azzuri show limits on their ability to compete. They lost to a good Norwegian squad twice, being outscored 7-1. Norway is expected to be a competitor in this summer’s tournament, but the wide gap in scoring shoes is that Italy clearly wasn’t on the same level.

The team almost suffered a third loss in a thrilling match against Israel. An own goal by the aforementioned Bastoni tied that match 4-4 with three minutes to play, but the Azzuri were bailed out by a Sandro Tonali goal in the 91st minute. 

As disappointing as missing another World Cup is, it seems likely Italy was headed for early heartbreak this summer anyway.