This past week, Italy did the unthinkable, yet the expected – lose to Bosnia in the World Cup Qualifiers. For the past 3 World Cups, Italy have failed to make it. A country once so powerful, once so feared, once home to the best players in the world can’t beat a country most people can’t spot on a map. As an Italian, this is truly and utterly embarrassing. In this article, I will break down what lead Italy to this unfortunate place, and how they managed to lose to Bosnia.
In the World Cup Qualifiers, Italy were in group I. This group consisted of Norway, Italy, Israel, Moldova, and Estonia. Norway finished first in the group, Italy 2nd, Israel 3rd, Estonia 4th, and Moldova in last. Since Italy finished 2nd place, which was 99% due to the fact they got crushed by Norway twice, they were thrown into a “wild card” – they were given another chance at qualification for the world cup through a two-game qualification round. Teams qualified for this “last chance” of sorts through either placing 2nd in their qualification group, or by performing well at the previous Nations League, a European competition.
Italy’s first opponent was Northern Ireland in Italy. This country isn’t exactly known for it’s talent, and their best player Conor Bradley got hurt in January during Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal, so many Italians expected a win here. And we did win, however it didn’t come with caution from the fans; last time we missed out on the World Cup to North Macedonia, so we know not to underestimate small countries. The game, surprisingly, was pretty close. Pierce Charles, who plays in the 2nd division of English football for Sheffield Wednesday, put up some good saves in front of our best threats, such as Retegui, Kean, etc. Regarding our defense, they didn’t have to do too much, as our midfield held a lot of possession. After a “stale” first half, it was in the 56th minute where Sandro Tonali would strike the ball to the bottom right corner to give the Italians the lead. Then again in the 80th minute, Moise Kean would put the game to rest with a goal. At this moment, myself and all other Italian fans believed that there was certainly hope. When this game was finished, I went to watch Wales vs. Bosnia to see who we would play. Bosnia’s goalkeeper, Nikola Vasilj, made a save in the penalty shootout to send them to the finals in the qualification tournament against us. Ironically I was pretty happy, I mean doesn’t Wales have more stars and better players than Bosnia? Don’t Bosnia only have Edin Dzeko among their prestigious players? Well, I was wrong.
March 31, 2026. A day I will never forget. This was the day Italy played Bosnia. The game started out as per usual – both sides put up a fight, but Italy seemed more dominant. However, it wasn’t until Bosnia’s goalkeeper made a mistake, ultimately leading to Italian midfielder, Nicolo Barella, to have the ball. He seized this opportunity, as he passed to Moise Kean who struck it beautifully in the top right corner. For a second, I truly thought that our absence from the World Cup would be no more. We continued to play well until the 41st minute, where Italian defender Alessandro Bastoni made a bad tackle on a Bosnian player, resulting in a red card. This meant we were down to ten men, and since we lost a defender (arguably our best one), we subbed off one of our two strikers, Mateo Retegui, for Federico Gatti, another defender. I personally coin this moment as our reason for our loss; if this didn’t happen, not only would we have still had our best defender on who brings defensive flair, not only would we still have had a large part of our attacking presence in Mateo Retegui, but we would’ve not been outnumbered 11 to 10. After this moment, the Italians seemingly just wanted to make it to halftime. Once the second half started, the Bosnians seemed fired up. They were constantly breaking down our defense, and our goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had to come to the rescue several times. In his 81st appearance for the national team, he registered 10 saves, his most ever in an Italian shirt. The Bosnians were attacking fiercely, and in the 79th minute, they finally broke us down. Substitute player Haris Tabakovic would capitalize on a rebound, equalizing the game. This was the beginning of the end. After this, Bosnia’s domination only grew more. For the rest of regular time, and the two halves of extra time, Italy’s defense was being exposed big time. Had it not been for Donnarumma, I genuinely believe it would’ve been 4 or 5 goals for the Bosnians. The Italians seemingly were trying their best to “just” survive until penalties, and even that they struggled with. Eventually, regular time ended and penalties were underway.
Bosnia shot first, and they scored. Shooting next was Italy, specifically Pio Esposito. He missed. I have no idea why our coach, Gennaro Gattuso, would employ a young player to take the first penalty. Bosnia would score again, this time by the same guy who equalised for them. Next for the Italians, was Sandro Tonali, the only one to make his shot. Bosnia scored again. Bryan Cristante is up for Italy, and he misses. At this moment, I begin to accept the loss, but I still have some hope. However if Bosnia make the next shot, they win. They did just that.
Just like that, my hopes were over. I will never forget the sadness on my face and my dad’s after truly realizing we just lost. This is a huge upset. This genuinely is on the same level as any big March Madness upset; we were supposed to win, but we got outclassed by a small team. I’m defeated, and I have begun to lose hope, but I am confident we will make the next world cup, because quite frankly, we have to.
