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WCup nightmare as Italy meets Sweden
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FOR football giant Italy the next few days could be a nightmare as it faces a double-headed playoff against Sweden to avoid the humiliation of missing the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 60 years.
“A World Cup without Italy isn’t a World Cup” has become the catchphrase of many Italians — a four-time world champion — who are perplexed at how the once-mighty Azzurri have fallen so low.
The last time Italy missed the World Cup was the 1958 edition which was hosted in Sweden.
“I don’t even consider the idea of not qualifying. We’ll go to Russia for sure,” insisted coach Gian Piero Ventura, who took over from Antonio Conte after the 2016 European Championship.
“We’re Italy and missing out on the World Cup is not an option,” added experienced center-back Leonardo Bonucci.
The playoff puts Italy’s proud record of World Cup participation in danger. The Azzurri are tied with Germany for most appearances by a European nation, 18. But Germany has already made sure of a 19th berth.
Italy is also the only one of the 8 previous winners not yet sure of its place in this World Cup.
Italy last won the World Cup in 2006 under Marcello Lippi with the hope that with its experience, talent and skill it could continue to prevail in years to come.
But despite a run to the Euro 2012 final it has failed to deliver consistency on the big stage, although former Juventus boss Conte led it to the quarterfinals of Euro 2016 with wins over Spain and Belgium.
After Conte’s departure for Chelsea the federation turned to veteran journeyman Ventura, who had coached clubs in Italy at all levels over 41 years.
The 69-year-old has often, however, appeared overwhelmed by the task, preferring to stick to his 4-2-4 tactical system to the detriment of the creativity of stars such as Marco Verratti, Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti.
Confidence took a knock during a tough qualifying campaign during which it lost 0-3 to Spain, and also struggled past Israel (1-0) and Albania (1-0) while laboring to a dismal 1-1 draw at home to Macedonia.
Italy travels to Sweden for the first leg of their playoff today in Stockholm with the return leg in front of a sellout crowd at Milan’s San Siro on Monday.
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