Italy Has Turned Into The Biggest Joke In International Soccer
It doesn't get more embarrassing than this.
Italian soccer is down tremendously. You could quite easily make the case that Italy is on the most-embarrassing run in modern sports history following its loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday, which made it the first former World Cup champions to miss out on three straight World Cups.
Whether you're a mega-casual soccer fan or someone who follows the sport incredibly closely, Italy is inevitably one of the first countries you think of when it comes to the sport, given the simple, general history of the game. Italy won its first two World Cups in the 1930s, its third in 1982, and hoisted the iconic trophy in 2006. Brazil is the only country to win the World Cup more than four times, having won it five times since 1958.
The only hold-up in declaring Italian soccer completely dead at this point is Euro 2020. Winning the Euros isn't exactly comparable to winning the World Cup, but with Italy's victory over England in the 2020 final, it can't just be tossed in the trash.
But missing out on not one, but three consecutive World Cups, is inexplicable, and for Italy to make disgusting history in a loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina is poetic.
There are literally more words in the country's name (three) than World Cup appearances they have to their name (2). Granted, Bosnia and Herzegovina wasn't formally founded as a country until 1992, but that fact may actually make things more embarrassing for Italy.
Bosnia punched its ticket to what will be its second World Cup appearance via a penalty shootout victory over Italy. The Italians jumped out to a 1-0 lead early, but things got grim in a hurry when defender Alessandro Bastoni was sent off with a direct red card before halftime.
Bosnia snagged an equalizer in the 79th minute, held onto that scoreline through extra time, and had the luck of the draw in the shootout.
Yes, it's ridiculous we're punching a ticket to the biggest sporting event on the planet via penalty kicks, but thems the rules, and Italy missed out. Again.