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The moment Haris Tabakovic converted his decisive penalty, Italian football had hit rock bottom. The four-time FIFA World Cup champions had failed to qualify for the marquee event for the third consecutive time. The first one was considered a fluke, the second one was embarrassing, but this was rock bottom.
Italy knew a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina would guarantee them a place at the FIFA World Cup 2026, having missed the last two World Cups. The Italians looked set to qualify after Moise Kean opened the scoring to give the visitors a lead. However, everything unravelled soon for the Azzurris.
Just before half-time, Alessandro Bastoni was sent off for a reckless tackle, and the Italians were down to 10 men. Bosnia and Herzegovina piled on the pressure, but the visitors held their lead going into half-time.
In the second-half, Italy were playing on the break as the hosts brought on multiple attacking substitutes in search of the equaliser. Kean had a golden chance to double Italy`s lead when he raced through on goal from his own half but missed the target.
That miss came back to haunt Italy as their worst nightmares came true after substitute Haris Tabakovic equalised in the 79th minute. The tall striker put the ball in the back of the net after a goalmouth scramble in the visitors` box.
Bosnia and Herzegovina had a chance to win the match late on, but Donnarumma pulled off some big saves to take the match into extra-time and then into penalties. Bosnia and Herzegovina`s skipper Edin Dzeko suffered a shoulder injury right at the end of extra time and was unlikely to take a penalty if required, making Italy the slight favourites.
In the shootout, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their spot kicks, and Esmir Bajraktarević converted the decisive penalty for Bosnia, winning them the shoot-out 4-1. Donnarumma was agonisingly close to saving Bosnia`s decisive penalty but to no avail as the hosts earned a victory to sink Italian football into further depths.
Italy manager Gattuso apologises to the fans
Speaking after the match, the Italian manager apologised to the fans for yet another failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The former star midfielder further added that he will decide his future as the manager of the team later on.
“I want to personally apologise since we didn`t make it. Today, talking about my future is not important. Today it was important to get to the World Cup.” Gattuso said.
This latest failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup means that Italy will go at least 16 years without playing at the marquee event, having last played in 2014. Despite their World Cup struggles, Italy won the European Championship in 2021.
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