Italy misses 2018 World Cup, losing out to Sweden

It’ll be the first World Cup without the Azzurri since 1958.

For the first time since 1958, Italy will not be participating in the World Cup. The four-time champions and eight-time semifinalists were eliminated from qualifying by Sweden, who grabbed a 0-0 draw on Monday to close out a 1-0 aggregate win over two legs of the UEFA qualifying playoff. This is the first time Sweden has qualified since 2006.

With Sweden having won the first leg at home, they set up conservatively and played much of the match with 11 players in their own half. However, they were denied two big penalty shouts for handballs in the first half. The second was such an egregious error by the officials that Emil Forsberg got in the referee’s face and berated him until he was shown a yellow card.

But the referee was nothing if not consistent. He was apparently intent on not giving a penalty for anything, as evidenced by Italy not being granted a spot kick on this challenge by Mikael Lustig.

The entire second half followed a predictable pattern. Italy would set up their entire team — center backs and all — within 40 yards of the Sweden goal. The Swedes ceased to have strikers, and kept 11 men behind the ball. Italy kicked the ball into the box and looked dangerous, but Sweden’s defenders did well enough to block shots or force them wide. Italy finished with 23 shots, but only six on target, and Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen looked in control.

Italy boss Gian Piero Ventura strangely decided not to use Lorenzo Insigne, his team’s most in-form attacker. Insigne had 18 goals and nine assists in Serie A last season, and has three goals and four assists so far this campaign, to go along with three goals in Champions League.

Other notable teams missing out on the 2018 World Cup include the Netherlands, who have made the last two World Cup semifinals, the United States, who have made the last seven tournaments, and Chile, who are the most recent champions of South America.