Italy woke up angry and disillusioned on Wednesday after the national team missed out on the World Cup for the third time in a row after a playoff defeat to Bosnia, prolonging a sporting nightmare for the soccer-mad country.
"The World Cup curse," said the front page of Italy's main daily Corriere della Sera, calling for a rebuilding of a movement that produced some of the game's greatest players but has won just one match at the finals since lifting the trophy in 2006.
Headlines on La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, the country's two main sports newspapers, both said "We're all staying at home," in reference to yet another summer without a World Cup for the four-time champions.
Fans in Rome were left stunned after Italy fell to a 4-1 penalty shootout defeat by Bosnia on Tuesday following a 1-1 draw, the third playoff defeat in a row after those against Sweden and North Macedonia.
"Everything went badly from the start of the match. The team wasn't good, players out of form coming in and playing (anyway)… it makes no sense. Honestly, I'm shocked," said Davide Caldaretta, who watched the game at a city pub.
The 'Azzurri', as the team is known, last qualified for the World Cup finals in 2014, which coincided with Bosnia's only previous appearance at the tournament. The Balkan team will now play in Group B joining co-hosts Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
"Either something is wrong with the youth system or it doesn't make sense," said fan Edoardo Settembre.
Italy went down to 10 men in the 42nd minute with Alessandro Bastoni punished for a late last-man tackle, a key turning point with Italy leading at the time.
"(We feel) really upset and disappointed. Even when you're let down you always hold out hope. And this is the third time in a row," said Melanie Cardillo.
