Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso said it is not the time to talk about his future despite the Azzurri failing to qualify for a third straight World Cup.
Even if Gattuso hasn’t made up his mind whether to stay or not, the Italian soccer federation gave a clear sign it would like him to remain on Tuesday.
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Four-time World Cup winner Italy lost a penalty shootout at 66th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoffs on Tuesday, after playing most of the match with 10 men.
“I’m not interested at all in talking about my future today,” Gattuso said. “It hurts, it really hurts. More than hurting me, it hurts to see this group which has really given everything in these months and I think we deserved to get back what we put in and I honestly think it’s too reductive and too immature to be talking about my future today.
“Here we should be talking about Italy, about the national team shirt, that it’s yet another blow even though this time we didn’t deserve it. We deserved more and that’s why my future doesn’t matter.”
Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.
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Gattuso was hired last June to replace the fired Luciano Spalletti, with Italy’s World Cup qualifying hopes already flagging again.
He was given a contract until the end of this summer’s World Cup, with an automatic renewal until 2028 if Italy reached the tournament in North America.
“I have to praise Gattuso. I think he’s been a great coach, he is a great coach, I’ve asked him to stay on in charge of these players,” Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina said.
However, whether Gravina himself should remain is also up for debate and he said he has already called for a federation council meeting next week to evaluate matters.
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Gravina has overseen two sets of disappointing World Cup qualifiers after taking charge in 2018. He replaced Carlo Tavecchio, who quit after Italy failed to reach the 2018 World Cup.
There had already been calls for Gravina’s resignation but some fans see the problem as running even deeper.
“I feel really bad, the system is rotten, the football system in Italy is rotten. Like, it’s not possible. A country which is made for football and lives for football and now, like, everything is rotten,” said 30-year-old Federico Barbieri, outside a bar in Rome.
“We knew that the team has its limits but … not going to the World Cup three times in a row? Sweden, North Macedonia and Bosnia. What else can I say?”
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Not every Italy coach has paid for the Azzurri’s failure to reach the World Cup.
Gian Piero Ventura was fired after Italy lost to Sweden but his replacement, Roberto Mancini, kept his job despite Italy’s shock loss to North Macedonia in 2022.
That came just eight months after Mancini led the team to the European Championship title and the federation decided to stick with the coach who revitalized the national team.
Mancini surprisingly resigned just over a year later — going on to become Saudi Arabia coach two weeks later — and was replaced by Spalletti.
But Spalletti, who oversaw a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign, got just one World Cup qualifier in charge before he was fired, with Gattuso coming in.
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Tuesday’s defeat added more misery for Italy’s once-proud national team, which won the World Cup four times.
“I grew up with an Italy that always came in the top four at the World Cup,” said 56-year-old building contractor Roberto Silvi. “I’ve seen Italy as world champion twice, and close another couple times.
“I took Italy’s qualifications for granted and now it seems like a nightmare to me. I don’t even believe it. The Italy that misses a World Cup is outside of the world. The Italy that misses three, if they had told me, I never would have believed it.”
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AP’s David Biller contributed from Rome.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
