Italian press lay into the national team after another humiliation | OneFootball

After Italy’s third consecutive elimination from the World Cup, the Italian press harshly attacked the national team and, above all, the leaders of Italian football.

As in 2018 and 2022, Italy will have to watch the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada (June 11 to July 19) on television, and the entire Italian press, both sports and general-interest media, was relentless in its criticism of Gennaro Gattuso’s team and Italian football as a whole.

“Everyone go home”: repeated headlines in bold

“Everyone go home,” read the headlines of the two main sports newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, as well as La Repubblica, captioning a photo of an Italian player lying on the ground with his head in his hands.

“Everyone go home,” was the headline of the two main sports newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, as well as La Repubblica, in the caption of a photo of an Italian player lying on the ground with his head in his hands.

“Everyone go home,” said the headlines of the two main sports newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, as well as La Repubblica, which published a photo of an Italian player lying on the ground with his head in his hands.

Defeat on penalties and the “third apocalypse”

For Gazzetta dello Sport, this penalty shootout defeat against Bosnia (1-1 after extra time, 4-1 on penalties) represents the “third apocalypse” of Italian football, whose last appearance at a World Cup dates back to 2014. “For the first time in our history, there will be Italian children who reach adulthood without ever having seen Italy play in a World Cup,” notes the pink-paged sports daily, which devotes eight pages to the “ongoing nightmare of Italian football.”

Criticism of the players and coaching staff

In an editorial titled “Another failure demands a complete change,” Gazzetta criticizes the players, particularly defender Alessandro Bastoni, whose sending-off in the 42nd minute for bringing down a Bosnian player in a good scoring position changed the course of the match, and coach Gennaro Gattuso, saying that “it is hard to imagine him remaining in charge of the national team after such a crushing defeat.”

But it is the football authorities, led by Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina, who are under the greatest scrutiny.

“We must take into account that we are no longer part of the world elite (…) If Gravina manages to get re-elected this time, he will set a new record: World Cups missed and the greatest resilience.”

Reaction from other Italian newspapers

For the newspaper La Stampa, the failure of the Nazionale is “a disaster,” while Corriere della Sera mentions “the World Cup curse” after this third consecutive failure in the playoffs, while also acknowledging that “the time for lamenting is over; new foundations are needed.”

The Milan-based newspaper acknowledges that “the anger of eight years ago and the shock of four years ago are gone (…) Now we will follow Sinner (world No. 2 in tennis) and Antonelli (leader of the F1 World Championship, but it’s not the same thing).”

See also: All Gazeta Esportiva news Gazeta Esportiva’s YouTube channel Follow Gazeta Esportiva on Instagram Join Gazeta Esportiva’s WhatsApp channel

*Content produced by AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.