italian director Gennaro Gattuso Despite this, he said it was not the right time to talk about his future. Azzurri failed to qualify To participate in the World Cup for the third consecutive year.
Even if Gattuso hasn’t made a decision on whether to stay, the Italian Football Federation gave a clear signal on Tuesday that it wants Gattuso to stay.
Four-time World Cup champions Italy lost on penalties to 66th-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoffs on Tuesday after playing most of the match with 10 men.
“I have no interest in talking about my future today,” Gattuso said. “It hurts, it really hurts. More than me hurting, it hurts watching this group of people who have really given their all these past few months. And I think we deserve to get back what we’ve put in. And honestly, I think it’s too reductive and too immature to talk about my future today.”
“Here we should talk about Italy, about the national team uniform. Even if we didn’t deserve it this time, it’s another blow. We deserved more, so my future doesn’t matter.”
Italy was defeated by Sweden and north macedoniarespectively, in the last two World Cup qualifying playoffs.
Gattuso was appointed to replace the sacked manager Luciano Spalletti in June last year, and Italy’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup are already increasing once again.
He has been given a contract until the end of this summer’s World Cup, with an automatic renewal until 2028 if Italy qualify for the North American tournament.
Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina said: “I have to praise Gattuso. I think he was a great coach and he is a great coach. I asked him to continue to manage these players.”
But Gravina himself is debatable whether he should stay, and said he has already called for a federation board meeting next week to assess the issue.
Gravina has overseen two disappointing World Cup qualifiers since taking over in 2018. He replaced Carlo Tavecchio, who resigned after Italy’s national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
There were already calls for Gravina to resign, but some fans believe the problem runs deeper.
“It’s really disgusting. The system is rotten. The Italian football system is rotten. That can’t happen. A country that was built for football and lived for football, and now everything is rotten,” Federico Barbieri, 30, said outside a bar in Rome.
“We knew the team had its limitations… but to miss three World Cups in a row? Sweden, North Macedonia and Bosnia. What else can we say?”
Not all Italian managers paid the price for the Azzurri missing out on the World Cup.
Coach Gian Piero Ventura was sacked after Italy’s loss to Sweden, but his successor Roberto Mancini kept his job despite Italy’s crushing defeat to North Macedonia in 2022.
It was just eight months after Mancini led the team to the European Championship title and the federation decided to retain the coach who had revitalized the national team.
Mancini surprisingly resigned after just over a year and was appointed Saudi Arabia manager two weeks later, replaced by Spalletti.
However, Spalletti, who oversaw a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign, was in charge of just one World Cup qualifier before being sacked and replaced by Gattuso.
Tuesday’s loss inflicted further misery on Italy’s once-proud national team, which won the World Cup four times.
“I grew up in Italy, where we were always in the top four at the World Cup,” said Roberto Silvi, a 56-year-old building contractor. “I saw Italy become world champions twice, but lost a couple more times.
“I took Italy’s qualification for granted, but now it’s a nightmare. I can’t believe it. Italy is out of the world after missing out on the World Cup. If they had told me, I would never have believed them.”
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Associated Press’ David Biller contributed from Rome.
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