Leaning against a wall near a news-stand in central Rome, Tommaso Silvestri, 65, scans the morning's front pages, whose headlines swing between apocalypse, scandal, and disaster following Italy's latest footballing collapse.
We've made a real mess of it, he says, shaking his head. We had players who couldn't even find the target.
The golden days of Italian football are well and truly gone, he adds.
On Tuesday night in Zenica, four-time World Cup winners Italy failed to qualify for the tournament for a third consecutive time, losing 4-1 on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina after being reduced to 10 men before halftime.
Since winning the World Cup in 2006, the Azzurri have largely disappointed in international tournaments—with the exception of their surprise victory at the Euros in 2021 against England at Wembley.
We are what our results say we are, Silvestri noted. When you shoot and can't even hit the goal, you're not going to go far. When it comes to taking the game home, Italy just doesn't get there anymore.
Last night's defeat drew swift and emotional reactions across Italian politics and society. Everything has a limit, lamented Ignazio La Russa, president of the Senate and a senior figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party.
In a post on X, he expressed: We're not going to the World Cup. We supported them, we hoped, we even railed against a couple of questionable refereeing decisions... but deep down we feared it. In fact, we knew it.
Author Roberto Saviano also highlighted deeper structural failures in Italian football, from governance to youth development. Clubs are corrupt and at the mercy of criminal organizations. No investment in young players, no care for second-generation talent. It's easier to buy foreign players than to develop new athletes, he critiqued on Instagram.
As fans reflect on the legacy of Italian football, Giovanni Colli, 71, expressed his feelings of betrayal over the team's failures. Not going to the World Cup three times in a row, how on earth did it happen? What a huge disappointment. Everyone should resign. Give the young players a chance, he said.
Italy's heartbreak was poignantly captured in the tear-streaked face of coach Rino Gattuso, who struggled to hold back his emotions after the defeat. We don't deserve this, it's not fair. I'm sorry I couldn't make it happen, he remarked, eyes glistening, before retreating to the dressing room.
Despite the disappointment, Gattuso expressed pride in his players: I'm proud of my boys and what they gave on the pitch. However, he admitted, When you have chances and don't take them, football punishes you. Reflecting on their elimination, he added: This hurts. We gave everything we could. It's a real shock.
