| Football fact 13:24 - Nov 20 with 628 views | Miaow |
The last World Cup knock-out match Italy played in was the 2006 final, where they beat France on penalties.
Since then, they have been eliminated at the group stage in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil), and then failed to qualify for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
And they won the Euros only last year, and have won the World Cup on four separate occasions, also losing in two other WC finals.
After not entering the first edition in 1930, the only time they had previously failed to qualify prior to 2018 was the 1958 tournament in Sweden, when Wales made their first appearance. |  |
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| Football fact on 14:13 - Nov 20 with 570 views | Darth_Koont |
On a connected note, the two WC finalists were then both in Scotland’s group for the next EC qualifiers ... making it ridiculously difficult to qualify even though Scotland took it to the last game against Italy and nearly pipped them to second.
But it was illustrative of the difficulty in qualifying when you find yourself trapped on the wrong side of the seedings. And that often continues for years unless you get a standout generation to turn the tide over that longer period and multiple campaigns. Probably barely registers for the bigger teams but the Nation’s League has been fantastic for giving smaller teams another much-needed chance to break out of that trap. |  |
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| Football fact on 14:20 - Nov 20 with 557 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
Point of order, the final is not a knock-out match which makes their last one the semi-final. |  |
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| Football fact on 14:31 - Nov 20 with 537 views | Illinoisblue |
| Football fact on 14:20 - Nov 20 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Point of order, the final is not a knock-out match which makes their last one the semi-final. |
Is there still a 3rd place game? If so, the semi-finals wouldn’t be a knock out round either |  |
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| Football fact on 14:35 - Nov 20 with 529 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Football fact on 14:31 - Nov 20 by Illinoisblue |
Is there still a 3rd place game? If so, the semi-finals wouldn’t be a knock out round either |
I believe there is, but it would feel like a knock-out even if you still get the 3rd v 4th place match. You would have been knocked out of reaching the final. | |
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