Again they could not clear the final hurdle. Italy once more crumbled in front of the World Cup. They held on for 90 minutes and dragged the match into extra time, but finally bowed their heads in the penalty shootout. They could not overcome being a player down in the away match in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and had to accept the humiliating outcome of failing to qualify for the World Cup finals for the third consecutive time.
Italy drew 1-1 with Bosnia in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup European playoff held at Stadion Bilino Polje in Zenica, Bosnia, on the 1st (Korean time), could not decide the result through extra time, and lost 1-4 on penalties.
With this, Italy again failed to qualify for the World Cup following the 2018 Russia World Cup and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. For the first time since the 2014 Brazil World Cup, they could not reach the finals stage this time either.
The start was not bad. In the 15th minute of the first half Moise Kean scored the opening goal. Nicolo Barella capitalized on a fatal kicking error by Bosnia goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj, and Kean followed up by slotting a right-footed shot into the corner. Italy punished the opponent's mistake precisely and took the lead.
The problem came after that. Even with the lead they could not dominate the game. Bosnia was more threatening throughout the first half. They repeatedly troubled the Italian defense with crosses, and a heavily withdrawn Italy showed neither proper escape from pressure nor forward movement. A decisive moment came in the 41st minute of the first half. Alessandro Bastoni slid in to stop Amar Memi? and brought him down in a counterattack, and referee Cl?ment Turpin immediately showed a red card. Italy had to endure most of the remaining time with 10 men.
The sending-off completely changed the flow. The second half was effectively Bosnia's attacks and Italy's resistance. Possession swung heavily to Bosnia, and Gianluigi Donnarumma produced successive saves. In the 6th minute of the second half he stopped a powerful shot by Kerim Alibegovic, and in the 27th minute he threw his body to parry a low, long-range shot by Benjamin Tahirovic. In the 42nd minute of the second half he again punched away a header from Ermedin Demirovic. Donnarumma recorded as many as nine saves that day to keep Italy in the match.
Italy also had chances to finish it. In the 15th minute of the second half Kean intercepted a pass and succeeded in a solo run, but squandered the decisive one-on-one chance wide of the goal. In the 29th minute Francesco Pio Esposito's shot flew over, and in the 32nd minute Federico Dimarco's shot also missed. If they had scored just once more, they could have finished the game. The cost of missing that one chance was too great.
In the end the resisting Italy collapsed in the 34th minute of the second half. Edin Dzeko met Amar Dedic's cross with a header in the box, and Donnarumma barely saved it. But the second ball fell in front of Haris Tabakovic, and Tabakovic pushed it in with his left foot to make it 1-1. Italy's resistance gradually faded from that moment.
Even in extra time Italy barely held on. In the 12th minute of the first half of extra time there were fierce protests that Tarik Muharemovic's foul could lead to a sending-off, but it resulted only in a yellow card, and in the late stages of the second half of extra time Tahirovic's shot skimmed past the post. Bosnia also could not produce a final decisive blow, and the outcome once again flowed to the lottery of penalties.
Here Italy completely collapsed. The first kicker, Francesco Pio Esposito, sent his shot over the crossbar, and the third kicker, Bryan Cristante, struck the crossbar. Only Sandro Tonali succeeded. By contrast, Bosnia's Benjamin Tahirovic, Haris Tabakovic and Kerim Alibegovic all calmly converted, and finally Esmir Bajraktarevic pierced Donnarumma's fingertips to finish it. The score was 1-4. Italy's World Cup dream ended there.
Italy took the lead early by not missing the opponent's mistake and hung on thanks to Donnarumma's show of saves. Even so, they fell again. Bastoni's sending-off, Kean's decisive miss, the consecutive failures in the penalty shootout. They wavered at critical moments, and the price was brutal. The pride of the Azzurri, which seemed to be revived by their Euro 2021 victory, has now been shattered before the World Cup finals three times in a row.
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