Italy, reduced to ten men in the 42nd minute, will miss this summer’s World Cup for the third consecutive time after losing in the European playoff final on penalties to Bosnia (1-1 after extra time, 4-1 on penalties) on Tuesday in Zenica. Italy, reduced to ten men in the 42nd minute, will miss this summer’s World Cup for the third consecutive time after losing in the European playoff final on penalties to Bosnia (1-1 after extra time, 4-1 on penalties) on Tuesday in Zenica.
The Nazionale, which had already failed to qualify through the playoffs for the previous two World Cups (2018, 2022), opened the scoring through Moise Kean (15th), but was reduced to ten men after defender Alessandro Bastoni was sent off (42nd minute). Bosnia equalized in the 79th minute through Haris Tabakovic.
During the penalty shootout, Bosnia—qualifying for only the second World Cup in its history after 2014—kept the advantage following misses from Italy’s first taker, Francisco Pio Esposito, and third taker, Bryan Cristante.
