One more and they got it.

Italy LOL

Let's go Bosnia!

Italy 🤡

Three straight World Cups they'll be missing, 4-1 Bosnia!

Italy miss out on their third World Cup in a row, you'd got long odds back in 2014 for Italy not to appear in an World Cup til 2030.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Did Italy fail to qualify?

Second World Cup for Bosnia and Herzegovina, first appearance since 2014.

Turkey an first appearance since 2002.

Czech Republic an first appearance since 2006

Sweden an first appearance since 2018.

ijbol

Wow, was sure Italy would qualify....WC doesn't seem same without the Italians.

17 minutes ago, Mack said:

Sweden seem to have got to a point where they knew they wouldn’t qualify by the normal route. They look like they just fulfilled the remaining fixtures and hoped they could get through the play-offs. An interesting day for two former Brighton managers.

10 hours ago, CRAZY CHRIS said:

Wow, was sure Italy would qualify....WC doesn't seem same without the Italians.

Italy have been completely anonymous since they won it in 2006. Even in the following tournos they did qualify for they went out in the group stage without so much as a whimper. Italian football is in the mud.

22 minutes ago, Dobbo said:

Italy have been completely anonymous since they won it in 2006. Even in the following tournos they did qualify for they went out in the group stage without so much as a whimper. Italian football is in the mud.

Can’t say I’m sad about that. Though I may still harbour a bit of annoyance towards the way Australia’s 2006 World Cup campaign ended. 😂

14 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

Can’t say I’m sad about that. Though I may still harbour a bit of annoyance towards the way Australia’s 2006 World Cup campaign ended. 😂

Indeed one of the biggest robberies in WC history that incident!

Flip me Ireland def should have qualified as the Czechs are no great shakes!

Wow at Italy missing out on their third in a row! Really happy for Bosnia though, they've ended up with one of the easiest groups as well. A shame Kosovo couldn't get a debut World Cup position, but Turkey haven't been in since 2002 so fair enough - same for Czechia. Sweden qualifying after getting 2 points in their group does feel somewhat unfair though!

Italy

I laugh but honestly, this just makes it even more confusing how we lost to them in the Euros final because honestly, what a bang average team they have been for some time.

I saw a post which made me think though...

Would you rather have Italy's recent run with a Euros win and no world cup attendances.

Or, our form with deep runs in recent tournaments, but no tournament win.

Honestly, pretty easy answer for me - one tournament win to miss out the world cup 3 times is really not even an option for me, what a boring time watching the world cup with no involvement.

Now that we know that 48 nations represented in the World Cup, here is how I would currently rank them:

TIER 1 - FAVORITES

1. SPAIN

2. ARGENTINA

3. FRANCE

4. PORTUGAL

TIER 2 - WILL BE STRONG

1. ENGLAND

2. COLOMBIA

3. GERMANY

4. MOROCCO

5. NETHERLANDS

6. JAPAN

7. SENEGAL

TIER 3 - COULD GO EITHER WAY

1. CROATIA

2. BRAZIL

3. NORWAY

4. BELGIUM

5. SWITZERLAND

6. TURKEY

7. MEXICO

TIER 4 - MAYBE A DARKHORSE

1. ALGERIA

2. AUSTRIA

3. ECUADOR

4. CANADA

5. URUGUAY

6. AUSTRALIA

7. UNITED STATES

8. IVORY COAST

TIER 5 - MILD EXPECTATIONS

1. EGYPT

2. SOUTH KOREA

3. CONGO DR

4. IRAN

5. UZBEKISTAN

6. PARAGUAY

7. CZECHIA

8. SOUTH AFRICA

TIER 6 - LONG SHOTS

1. PANAMA

2. TUNISIA

3. SWEDEN

4. SCOTLAND

5. JORDAN

6. CAPE VERDE

7. GHANA

8. BOSNIA

TIER 7 - THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING

1. IRAQ

2. SAUDI ARABIA

3. HAITI

4. NEW ZEALAND

5. QATAR

6. CURACAO