Tragic, Italy must again be absent at the World Cup after being eliminated by Bosnia-Herzegovina
JAKARTA - Italy failed again to reach the World Cup final after being eliminated by Bosnia-Herzegovina in the final playoff of the 2026 World Cup qualification in the European zone at the Billino Polje Stadium, Zenica, Wednesday morning WIB.
Italy took the lead through Moise Kean, but as reported by Antara, Bosnia equalized through Haris Tabakovic, according to UEFA's notes.
After remaining 1-1 for 120 minutes, the winner of the match must be determined through a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Italy lost 4-1 after two of their kickers failed, while four Bosnian executioners successfully carried out their duties well.
This is Italy's third consecutive failure to reach the World Cup finals after 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the other hand, made their second appearance in the World Cup after the 2014 edition in Brazil.
Bosnia then joined Group B with hosts Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
Italy took the lead early through Moise Kean's goal in the 15th minute so the score changed to 1-0.
Bosnia turned around to give a threat and several times threatened the Italian goal, but it didn't work.
Italy had to play with 10 men from the 41st minute after defender Alessandro Bastoni was given a direct red card by the referee for a foul on Amar Memic.
Bosnia almost equalized through Amar Memic's header that missed the Italian goal at the end of the first half.
The advantage in the number of players was taken advantage of by Bosnia by attacking the Italian defense line.
They equalised in the 79th minute through a goal by Haris Tabakovic who took advantage of a rebound in the Italian penalty box.
Furthermore, both teams tried to score the winning goal, but the score remained 1-1 so the winner had to be determined by a penalty shootout.
Bosnia won 4-1 after four of its executioners did a good job, while two Italian kickers, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante, failed to carry out their duties.