{"id":577360,"date":"2026-04-01T00:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:10:15","slug":"italy-fails-to-reach-third-straight-world-cup-after-penalty-shootout-loss-to-bosnia-and-herzegovina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577360\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy fails to reach third straight World Cup after penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy’s World Cup exile will continue after it fell to a 4-1 penalty shootout defeat by Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica.<\/p>\n

Penalties were needed to decide the play-off final after it ended in a 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n

Four-time champions Italy had lost out at \u200cthe play-off stage to \u2060miss the last two World \u200cCups.<\/p>\n

\"Bosnia<\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrate its defeat of Italy. (Reuters: Amel Emric)<\/p>\n

Its last qualification \u200cin 2014 coincided with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only previous appearance.<\/p>\n

Italy got off to the perfect start, with Moise \u200cKean putting his side ahead in the 15th minute.<\/p>\n

But \u2060Italy had Alessandro \u200cBastoni sent off four \u200cminutes before the break to raise \u200cthe hopes of the home side.<\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina levelled 11 \u200cminutes from time \u2060through Haris Tabakovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

Both Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their penalties for Italy, while the \u2060hosts made no mistake from the spot to \u200crepeat \u200ctheir semifinal shootout win over Wales.<\/p>\n

“We still don’t believe it \u2014 that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola said.<\/p>\n

“It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families, and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”<\/p>\n

Italy’s last World Cup knockout match was when it won the title in 2006 by beating France in a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n

None of Italy’s current players have participated in a World Cup finals.<\/p>\n

The defeat will raise questions about the status of Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso.<\/p>\n

Gattuso took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.<\/p>\n

Socceroos to play T\u00fcrkiye<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkiye qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2002, setting up a clash with the Socceroos in the group stage.<\/p>\n

A 1-0 victory over Kosovo in Pristina sealed T\u00fcrkiye’s spot in the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.<\/p>\n

\"Kerem<\/p>\n

Kerem Akt\u00fcrko\u011flu’s second-half goal was enough to send T\u00fcrkiye through to the World Cup. (Getty Images\/UEFA: Armando Babani)<\/p>\n

The Socceroos will play T\u00fcrkiye, ranked 25th in the world, in their Group D opener in Vancouver on June 14.<\/p>\n

The US and Paraguay are also in Group D.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkiye forward Kerem Akt\u00fcrko\u011flu scored the only \u200cgoal against Kosovo, finding the back of the net in the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n

For Kosovo, ranked 79th and playing in front \u200cof a sold-out \u2060crowd, the defeat brought an end to a remarkable run – falling just short \u2060of a historic debut at a major tournament, \u200cless \u200cthan a decade after joining FIFA and UEFA.<\/p>\n

Swedes reach World Cup<\/p>\n

Sweden beat Poland 3-2 in Solna to book its ticket to the World Cup, as Viktor Gy\u00f6keres struck two minutes from time to decide a frantic qualification play-off \u200cfinal.<\/p>\n

Anthony Elanga’s opener \u2060for Sweden was cancelled out \u200cby Nicola Zalewski’s equaliser, \u200cbut Gustaf Lagerbielke’s 44th-minute strike restored the hosts’ advantage and ensured they entered the \u200cbreak ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Elanga (left) celebrates with Swedish teammate Daniel Svensson. (Getty Images: Michael Campanella)<\/p>\n

Despite Karol \u015awiderski drawing the visitors \u2060level again shortly \u200cafter the interval, \u200cGy\u00f6keres capitalised on a late \u200cgoal-mouth scramble to side-foot home the winner.<\/p>\n

The result \u200cearned Sweden \u2060a spot in Group F for the 2026 World Cup alongside the Netherlands, Japan and \u2060Tunisia.<\/p>\n

It marks Sweden’s first appearance at the \u200ctournament \u200csince 2018.<\/p>\n

Czechs beat Denmark on penalties<\/p>\n

Czechia clinched a spot at the World Cup by beating Denmark 3-1 on penalties after an absorbing encounter in Prague.<\/p>\n

The Czechs were \u200cpegged back to 1-1 \u2060at the end of 90 \u200cminutes and 2-2 after \u200cthe extra period before winning the shootout to reach their first World Cup since 2006 to \u200cdelight the home fans.<\/p>\n

\"Pavel<\/p>\n

Pavel \u200c\u0160ulc helped Czechia qualify for the World Cup. (Getty Images\/UEFA: Sebastian Widmann)<\/p>\n

The hosts \u2014 who beat Ireland in \u2060a shootout in \u200cthe play-off semifinals \u200clast week \u2014 stunned Denmark when Pavel \u200c\u0160ulc found the top corner with a first-time \u200cstrike after three \u2060minutes.<\/p>\n

The visitors levelled in the 72nd through a Joachim Andersen header before Czechia captain Ladislav Krej\u010d\u00ed and Denmark’s Kasper H\u00f8gh scored in extra \u200ctime \u200cto send the match to penalties.<\/p>\n

Wires\/ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy’s World Cup exile will continue after it fell to a 4-1 penalty shootout defeat by Bosnia and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,80064,13201,596,2328,167849,7104,5427,32602,132295,13198,42150,85,4200,13195,1055,2489,21418],"class_list":["post-577360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-italy","tag-kosovo","tag-paraguay","tag-poland","tag-qualification","tag-qualifiers","tag-soccer","tag-socceroos","tag-sports","tag-sweden","tag-turkiye","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}