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Could Italy really miss another World Cup?
By the time next summer’s World Cup kicks off, it’ll have been 12 years since Italy last played at the tournament they have won more times (four) than any other nation besides Brazil (five) and Germany (also four). The way things are going, the Azzurri’s 12-year wait for World Cup qualification could become a 16-year one at the very least.
Italy are very much still in qualification contention. Gennaro Gattuso’s side are just two points behind Norway in Group I with the Azzurri still to host Erling Haaland and co. in their final group game. That could be a single-game shootout to decide which team makes it directly to the World Cup.
That Italy have missed the last two World Cups is somewhat anomalous considering the Azzurri won Euro 2020, but their qualification drought has prompted a lot of introspection. Italian soccer’s grassroots have been examined. While the country once produced superstars purely out of habit, now it is scrambling for difference-makers at the elite level.
Moise Kean has recently emerged as one such difference-maker. The Fiorentina forward has scored four in his last three outings for the national team while Mateo Retegui has also registered nine goal contributions in wins over Estonia and Israel. Gattuso, who replaced Luciano Spalletti in June, has at least sparked some life into Italy’s attack.
In Italy’s last World Cup triumph two decades ago, they had more icons than a Florence galleria – Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero, Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti and more. Italy are a long way from that level now, no matter how their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign finishes.
Why isn’t it happening for Wirtz right now?
Liverpool paid $155m (£116m) to sign Florian Wirtz this summer because they believed he was a sure bet. The 22-year-old was widely considered a generational talent and the Premier League champions saw an opportunity to add to their team from a position of strength, beating Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid to Wirtz’s signing.
So far, though, the $155m man has been a disappointment. Wirtz has yet to register a single goal or assist in seven Premier League appearances and has even been dropped to the bench by Arne Slot for some matches. Slot says Wirtz is “adjusting” while Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann has also defended his player.
According to Nagelsmann, it’s “not his fault if his teammates don’t convert” the chances being created by Wirtz, and he might have a point. Only Cody Gakpo (14) and Mohamed Salah (12) have created more chances than Wirtz (11) for Liverpool this season. His expected assists (xA) also ranks highly.
In Liverpool’s last match before the international break away to Chelsea, Wirtz carved out a glorious opportunity for Salah, pirouetting to brilliantly set up the Egyptian for a shot inside the box only for the chance to be spurned. In the game against Galatasaray before that, Wirtz had the most shots of any Liverpool player and the second-most key passes.
Nonetheless, anyone who has watched Wirtz for Liverpool this season hasn’t seen the same player who lit up the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen. Wirtz might be contributing more than many are giving him credit for, but those contributions so far haven’t been worth $155m.
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Is Poch finally getting through to the USMNT?
When US Soccer hired Mauricio Pochettino as the most expensive head coach in the history of the US men’s national team, few would have imagined that his process would take a full year to bear fruit. Fruit (possibly lemons), however, is undeniably beginning to appear. The USMNT is finally starting to look like a Pochettino team.
The performance in the 1-1 draw against Ecuador was their best to date under the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur boss. The US played with intensity. They handled the opposition press well. There was movement and quick decision-making in the final third and an eye-catching individual display by Folarin Balogun as the No 9, the USA’s most problematic of problem positions. Haji Wright also made a case for himself by bagging a brace in the 2-1 win over Australia.
For a long time, it wasn’t clear Pochettino would ever get through to his players. The March defeats to Panama and Canada left a stench so strong that Pochettino spent the next few months airing it out. He publicly questioned the attitude of his players, including his best player after Christian Pulisic skipped the Gold Cup to rest up this summer. Performances were poor. Some were worse than that.
It was only last month that Alexi Lalas suggested US Soccer should fire Pochettino. That, of course, was Lalas being Lalas, but few would have argued the Argentine was justifying his $6m-a-year salary at that point. Something, however, has changed since then and the USMNT finally has something to build on. The dread around the 2026 World Cup on home soil has eased. Slightly.
