It takes 9-0 to advance! The worst championship was born, falling into the play-offs for three consecutive years, the World Cup is difficult again

The World Cup European qualifiers have entered the final two rounds of competition. In the games that have ended, France and Croatia both performed steadily and successfully obtained tickets for the main match.

Traditional strong teams such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands can basically lock in a direct promotion spot as long as they can perform stably.

Among the many wealthy teams, there is one team that has won the World Cup and European Cup championships, but once again fell behind and missed the chance to advance directly. It is Italy, which was heartbroken by Norway.

9 to 0 to advance

In the first round against Norway, Italy encountered all-round crushing and was completely beaten by their opponents on both offense and defense. In the end, they lost to their opponents 0-3.

Although Italy maintained a complete victory in the following games, Norway was too brutal, and the goal difference between the two teams was completely widened.

In the final round of the World Cup preliminaries, Italy will face Norway at home. There is only one condition for them to qualify directly for the World Cup: win 9-0 against Norway.

Obviously, this is an impossible task.

Three consecutive play-offs, completely numb.

Italy also knows very well that they must start preparing for the play-offs. So in the penultimate round, they chose to give up strategically and replaced a large number of main players. Although the opponent was defeated 2-0 in the end, there was no smile on everyone's face.

For Italian players and fans, they have experienced this kind of scenario in the previous two World Cup preliminaries. This is the third time in a row that they have fallen at the doorstep of direct promotion, but this time they are further away from the doorstep.

The additional zone in the European preliminaries can be described as hellishly difficult. Therefore, Italy was eliminated in the first two play-offs and missed the chance to advance to the World Cup.

There is no spear in attack and no shield in defense.

Entering the 21st century, the reason why Italy was able to win the European Cup and World Cup without being favored was the team's defense.

It is a pity that this steel defense line, which the Italians were once proud of, has now been completely reduced to the Macedonian defense line. No matter how weak the opponent is, it can threaten Italy's door at all times.

With the defense completely broken, Italy's offense also had frequent problems. They lack strikers capable of finishing. Facing point-gifting babies like Estonia and Moldova, other teams are eager to score in double digits. When the goal difference is fierce, Italy always struggles to win.

There are traces of gradual decline.

The reason why Italy has become what it is today is actually very simple. Firstly, almost all of the current wealthy teams in Serie A are controlled by foreign capital. In order to see results in a short period of time, they signed a large number of powerful players from other countries, which caused the living space of local Italian players to be extremely squeezed. When players cannot get stable playing time, they naturally cannot improve their skills.

For the long-term development of the national team, youth training can be said to be a very fundamental pillar. However, Italy's youth training has been restricted by various factors such as funding in recent years and has not been able to develop. When a group of teenage players from other countries began to enter the international arena, Italy could only consume its own old base. When these old assets are completely exhausted, decline is natural.