1 ora fa
1
Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso struggled
to hold back the tears as he apologized to the nation after his
side lost a penalty shoot-out against Bosnia and Herzegovina in
Zenica on Tuesday in the World Cup playoffs final, meaning the
Azzurri will miss the tournament for the third consecutive time.
But Gattuso, a key part of Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning team,
also stood up for his team, who played most of the match in 10
after defender Alessandro Bastoni got a straight red card
shortly before half-time for a last-man foul.
"I apologise, but it's unjust," he told Rai television.
"These guys didn't deserve a sucker punch like this, given their
determination and commitment.
"We struggled - we were down to 10 men.
"That's football, but I'm proud of my guys.
"The guys gave everything and I'm proud of them," he added in an
interview with Sky.
"It's a big blow on a personal level, it'll take time".
The four-time world champions also failed to qualify for Russia
2018 and Qatar 2022, coming second in the group, as they did
this time behind Erling Haaland's Norway, and get ejected in the
subsequent playoffs by Sweden and North Macedonia respectively.
On Tuesday Italy had taken the lead thanks to a superb strike by
forward Moise Kean in the 15th minute.
They came under intense pressure from the hosts after Bastoni
was sent off, although they also had three good chances to go
2-0 up before Haris Tabakovic poked in an equalizer for Bosnia
and took the game to extra time.
Esmir Bajraktarevic converted his penalty to secure a 4-1 win
for Bosnia in the shoot-out after substitutes Pio Esposito and
Bryan Cristante failed to convert theirs for Italy.
Riproduzione riservata © Copyright ANSA
English (US) ·