{"id":2271,"date":"2026-04-01T16:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/2271\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:55:09","slug":"how-argentina-boss-lionel-scaloni-reacted-to-italy-missing-out-on-2026-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/2271\/","title":{"rendered":"How Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni reacted to Italy missing out on 2026 FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lionel Scaloni admitted he was saddened by Italy missing out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as the four-time champions continue a worrying trend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Italy\u2019s absence marks a historic low point for one of football\u2019s most decorated nations. For a third straight tournament, they will not be part of the global stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The failure has drawn reactions from across the football world. Scaloni was among those who spoke openly. And his response reflected both respect and disappointment.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by Luis ROBAYO \/ AFP via Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9c2cad7e5554a898cb308481db5e57c9.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Luis ROBAYO \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Lionel Scaloni reacts to Italy missing the 2026 World Cup<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Scaloni\u2019s comments about Italy were shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AlbicelesteTalk\/status\/2039171401085538490?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:an X handle;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;an X handle&quot;}\" class=\"link \">an X handle<\/a>, where the Argentina boss made his feelings clear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWhat happened to Italy makes me sad. I have some Italian roots, besides having played there, it\u2019s a brother country to Argentina and they love us a lot,\u201d Scaloni said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He added: \u201cNot having them at the World Cup isn\u2019t something Argentines like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Scaloni\u2019s words underline the respect Italy still command globally. Their absence is felt beyond Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It also highlights how unexpected this continued decline has been for a nation with such history. For many, Italy missing out again is one of the biggest shocks of the qualification cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Italy playoff collapse confirms third straight World Cup miss<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Italy\u2019s campaign ended in a playoff defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they were eliminated after a penalty shootout loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The match finished 1-1 after extra time, but Italy lost 4-1 on penalties, sealing their exit from qualification.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They had taken the lead earlier in the game before being reduced to ten men, which shifted momentum late in the match. The equaliser forced extra time, and Italy were unable to recover control before the shootout defeat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This result confirms their third consecutive absence from the World Cup, following failures in 2018 and 2022. For a nation of Italy\u2019s stature, it represents a prolonged period of underperformance that continues to raise serious questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Scaloni admitted he was saddened by Italy missing out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[97,386,5,1910,1911],"class_list":{"0":"post-2271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-2026-world-cup","9":"tag-argentina","10":"tag-italy","11":"tag-lionel-scaloni","12":"tag-robayo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}