Itay’s third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup is the lowest point in the history of the Italian national team; there is no question about it. There are many reasons, too many to sum up in a few words, but one fact should give us pause: my nearly 11-year-old nephew has never seen the Azzurri play at a World Cup, and this summer won’t change that. The failure of the team led by Gennaro Gattuso, the last one who I personally blame, is a reflection of the status of Italian soccer, relying too much on individuals.
After the incredible 1990s, where we thought we could dominate the world in the game, others started to work really hard. The Premier League, for instance, started to build a brand and a product that 30 years later became the most successful and the one we look at as an example. For years, Italians trusted that individual talent would carry them through, and often, it did. But when that talent fades, and everything depends on structure, discipline, and hard work, the cracks become impossible to hide.
Italian soccer lags behind in every major area: outdated stadiums, weak infrastructure, limited financial power, and perhaps most damaging of all, a lack of clear vision. It’s no coincidence that young talents like Giovanni Leoni and Riccardo Calafiori are choosing the Premier League over top Italian clubs. When the system fails to evolve, the most promising players look elsewhere to grow.
After the defeat on penalties against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gattuso spoke emotionally about his failure, but he should be proud. We all believed in him, unlike other managers in the past. He was able to unify the whole country, but from now on, it will only be even more chaotic. That’s why it was so surprising to hear the words of Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina. Not only did he refuse to step down, but he also backed Gattuso to remain in charge even after the defeat, an approach that seems to ignore the deeper, structural problems rather than confront them.
Gravina is expected to step down in the coming weeks. I don’t even want to think otherwise, but he’s also the reflection, not of the sport, but of our country. In Italy, accountability rarely translates into resignation, whether in soccer or in politics. Managers tend to hold on to their roles, and politicians even more so, creating a culture where responsibility is just a word and not an action.
I feel bad for Gattuso and for some players of this team, that maybe won’t ever play a World Cup, such as captain Gianluigi Donnarumma who made many crucial saves once again. Francesco Pio Esposito, one of the young stars, missed the first penalty. He had courage, and we won’t forget it. What’s harder to accept is the lack of the same courage elsewhere. Leaving out Marco Palestra in both matches raises serious questions, especially for a player who has been consistently among the best right wingers in Serie A this season. It speaks to a deeper issue: a national team that is reluctant to trust and fully embrace its own most in-form talents.
There is no perfect recipe on what to do from here on. For sure, we need some new faces. In 2010, Roberto Baggio wrote a 900-page project on how to save Italian soccer, only four years after Italy won the 2006 World Cup, the last time we played a knockout game in the most important soccer tournament in the world. Nobody truly took it seriously, nobody really cared, and where we find ourselves now is, in part, the result of that indifference.
To whoever will be in charge of Italian football in the coming years, there is only one thing to say: forget about the 2030 FIFA World Cup, forget about short-term results. What we need is a true rebuild — something patient, something structured, something that can still matter 20 years from now. Too much time has already been wasted. There’s none left to lose.
