World Football National Team｜Italy did not advance, why did the former strong teams fall?
Italy is a traditional football strong team, but it failed to qualify for the World Cup group stage in two consecutive World Cups. Before the start of the 2022 World Cup, because Italy won the 2020 European Cup, many people placed high hopes on it. They did not expect to be eliminated by North Macedonia, which is only ranked 67th in the world after falling into the World Cup play-offs. Many Italian fans watched. very angry.
But you know what? Italy, which has won four World Cups in total, has suffered several slumps in the past.
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The biggest key to affecting the competitiveness of Italian football is - the "Phonegate Incident"
The dream of the European Cup, the continuous humiliation of the World Cup
The biggest key to affecting the competitiveness of Italian football is - the "Phonegate Incident"
As early as 1949, due to the occurrence of World War II, the Italian team suffered an air crash, which caused the Italian team to suffer a severe setback, but it also allowed it to develop a team that attaches importance to defense, which may be considered as the Italian team. Lee's first decade of depression, but because the age is too old, so no in-depth discussion.
In 2006, the Italian Serie A (Serie A) broke out the biggest scandal in football - the "Phonegate Incident". Since several strong teams in Serie A participated in this match-fixing incident, they placed referees who were beneficial to their side in the game to manipulate the results of the match. The competitiveness of the team fell to the bottom in an instant, and the damage to Italian football still exists today.
And this phone call incident happened just before the 2006 World Cup, and the incident was postponed until after the game. It happened that the World Cup champion was Italy, but Italy has not advanced from the group stage in any subsequent World Cup. , it can be seen that the telephone door incident has seriously affected the entire Italian football world.
The dream of the European Cup, the continuous humiliation of the World Cup
Immediately after the 2006 World Cup, Italy had to face a dilemma. The 2008 European Cup and the 2010 World Cup can be said to be disastrous defeats. The large-scale events from 2014 to 2016 gradually seemed like Italy was about to recover, although The results were still poor, they were no longer decadent. Then, in the 2018 World Cup, Italy, as a traditionally strong team, fell asleep again. First, they were forced to make peace by North Macedonia, and then they were kicked out of the World Cup group stage by Sweden. Qualification, many Italian stars withdrew from the national team in anger.
After the fiasco in 2018, Italy immediately changed the head coach. His selection and tactics were different from those of Italy in the past. He abandoned the past defensive tactics. Such a style won the 2020 European Cup and created Italy. The new milestone has also written down the myth of 34 consecutive international matches without defeat. Even so, it has come to the World Cup European Qualifiers due to too many draws and still cannot qualify for the World Cup.
Time is pulled to the European World Cup play-offs not long ago. Italy ranked sixth in the world and the first among European countries face North Macedonia, which ranks only 67. Intuitively, it is impossible to lose, right? The opposite is true. Not only did Italy lose, but they lost horribly. The statistics of the whole game were much higher than those of their opponents. The number of shots taken by Italy was 8 times that of North Macedonia, but they could not even score a single goal. Although many people were injured in the World Cup qualifiers, they faced weak teams. It is still unbelievable to kick out this 0:1 fiasco.
Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup, what's next?
Italy has experienced both glory and shame in just one year. The main reason must be attributed to the lack of success in the team. At present, only 30% of the youth team in the Serie A club is Italian, and it is difficult to cultivate new talents for the national team. Insufficient competitiveness, the impact of the telephone door incident on the present is obvious.
Even if Italy has qualified for the final week of the 2026 World Football Championship, many new fans are unfamiliar with Italy. I am afraid that in the minds of many fans, Italy is no longer the powerhouse team in the past. Whether Lee can get rid of his depression is another question.
