Girogio Chiellini
Italy's next chance of reaching a World Cup will come in 2026, 12 years after their last appearance at the finals

Italy's three main sports newspapers were united in their assessment of the country's shock World Cup elimination by North Macedonia.

That was the word that was screamed from the front pages of Gazzetta dello Sport and other newspapers.

The situation at newsagents around the country was the same as Friday morning, with the headlines reading "out of the world" and "To hell".

Italy missed out on the World Cup for the first time, and also failed to qualify for Russia, making it a sporting disaster. The Azzurri and their fans will have been without World Cup football for 12 years if they make it to the finals.

It is difficult to say if Thursday&s calamity is more painful than the failure to book a place in Russia in November of last year. It was a terrible night, one on which World Cup-winning heroes from Germany 2006 Gianluigi Buffon and Daniele de Rossi said farewell to international football in unhappy fashion.

A new attacking mentality was implemented after Roberto Mancini was appointed manager. Italy was crowned European champion at Wembley last July. No one has forgotten that.

Then this.

It feels like Italy should have been in this situation in the first place. The team that remained without a loss for 37 games is still the heroes of Wembley. They were the only team to beat them in the final five matches of the group, drawing four times between September and November last year.

The four-time World Cup winners missed a penalty in two of the draws against Switzerland, who claimed direct qualification at the finish line. It would have been enough for Italy to have 32 shots, 16 corners to nil, 65% possession and concede in the 92nd minute to North Macedonia.

Everyone felt that something had changed.

Tension and self-belief had crossed paths since the season began. On Thursday, the Azzurri played a lot of long balls. Nicolo Barella, Lorenzo Insigne and Jorginho are just a few of the athletes who are out of form. Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Leonardo Spinazzola, and Giovanni di Lorenzo have all been injured.

The boss seems to have lost his magic, as he insists on picking players who aren't performing. There has been some criticism.

Italy have reverted to an older version of themselves, they have shown a lack of creativity, their most experienced players are short of self-confidence, and a centre-forward in Ciro Immobile seems unsuited to this level.

Is that enough to explain what happened against a team that was ranked 47th in Europe and 67th in the world?

The devastating night in Palermo is a mirror to Italian football as a whole, something the Euro 2020 triumph had masked for a while. Jorginho will think of the missed penalties against the Swiss for the rest of his life, but is it really their fault?

Italian football would be better off facing up to its problems, rather than resorting to quick fixes. Since 2010, no Italian club has won a European trophy. A non-strategic approach to youth football has resulted in top-flight clubs having an average of 2.7 under-21 Italian players in their squad, who play 4% of the total Serie A minutes, 80% of those minutes coming as substitute after the 70th minute.

The Italian Football Federation asked clubs to delay matchday 31 in order to prepare for the World Cup play-offs, but the request was rejected. The fans who watched Empoli vs Verona and Venezia vs Sampdoria last weekend can now watch the rest of the world competing in November because of the decision by the Serie A.

How important is the Azzurri to Italian football? In a busy calendar, how much space do they need? Gabriele Gravina is the president of the FIGC.

Italy is perceived as an annoyance by clubs, rather than an opportunity, according to him.

He said that they want Mancini to stay and that he has committed to them.

When the World Cup will be held in Mexico, the USA and Canada, the manager's contract was extended.

The 57-year-old former Inter and Manchester City boss has the right to lick his wounds after what he says is his most painful sporting disappointment ever. Hopefully he will still consider himself the best person to help implement long-awaited structural changes in the Italian game and mould a new-look national team around young talents like Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Zaniolo.

Otherwise another disastrous event may follow.

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