The Italian curse continues, a summary of 16 years of the Italian curse

Italy is a country where football is a huge tradition and a way of life, more than a religion. Since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Italian national team has been going through a very difficult time, at least as far as the FIFA-organised tournament is concerned.

Brazil, with five World Cup titles, is the only national team that has more than the Italian national football team. Italy shares the number of titles from the biggest football tournament in history with Germany in second place overall with four gold medals. The daily newspaper Marca came up with a summary of the 16 years of the Italian national team, which has been written in black letters in the history of Italian football.

Has Italy sold its soul to the devil?

It is worth remembering that at the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany, the Italians defeated France in a series of penalty shootouts in a match that many fans will associate with the Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi incident. At the time, the French legend’s header brought down a provocative Italian defender, which offended Zidane’s sister, forcing Zidane to take an early shower during extra time.

All this happened amid a match-fixing scandal that even cost Italian champion Juventus Turin the title and relegation to Serie B. It would seem that the Azzurri have sold their souls to the devil in the style of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, because they have had to go through the “seven circles of hell” since then.

Four disappointments from the World Cup

In South Africa in 2010, Italy defended their title in disgraceful fashion, finishing bottom of Group F below Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. They thus left the tournament with two draws and just two points from three matches.

The Brazil 2014 draw placed them in the “group of death”. In Group D, Italy faced England, Costa Rica and Uruguay, and although they beat the Brits on their debut, it all came crashing down later with surprising consecutive defeats against both American teams. Three points were not enough and for the second time in a row the Italian national team had to leave the World Cup before the knockout matches.

If that seemed to mean hitting rock bottom, then what followed was a sheer tragedy unprecedented in the history of Italian football. First it was the World Cup in Russia in 2018, where Italy didn’t even qualify for the final tournament. In the barrage with Sweden for a World Cup ticket, after a loss in Sweden and a home draw, the Italians abandoned the idea of going to Russia. The farewell to the legendary national team goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon thus had a very bitter taste.

The Italians had to drink the bitter cup to the bottom after yesterday’s elimination against Macedonia

After the Italian national football team rose from the dead to win the European Championship at Euro 2020 last year, the crisis in Italian football seemed to have been sparked. Advancing to the World Cup in Qatar was thus supposed to be a mere formality.

In fact, in a favourable group, the Italians finished second behind first-placed Switzerland and thus made it into the barrage. In yesterday’s home game in Palermo, Italy failed to overcome the underdog from North Macedonia. After Aleksandar Trajkovski’s goal in the 92nd minute, the Italian players will for the second time in a row watch the final tournament, this time in Qatar, only on television.

In short, the worst 16 years in the history of Italian football have passed since the victorious World Cup in Germany. The fact that the Italians did not make it through the qualification fights for the second time in a row is a disgrace for Italian football.

Source: Marca