Italy won the 2006 World Cup final over France, with Mario de Rossi celebrating despite exams and later describing a decline from that peak. Italy then exited in the group stage in 2010 and 2014, failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and missed qualification again four years later. In 2026 qualifying, no former champion had failed to qualify three straight times, while major rivals advanced early. Italy instead entered a playoff with smaller teams, including Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, after struggling in the group phase. After two losses to Norway, Italy’s final bid came March 31 in Zenica in a winner-take-all match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country with about one-twentieth Italy’s population and one prior World Cup appearance, where Moise Kean scored early.
#italian-national-football #world-cup-qualification #citizenship-debate #moise-kean #european-football-rivals
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