Devastated Italians reckon with 'third apocalypse' of World Cup failure

Pio Esposito missed the first penalty in Italy's shootout defeat in Bosnia [Getty Images] Leaning against a wall near a news-stand in central Rome, Tommaso Silvestri, 65, scans the morning's front pages, their headlines swinging between "apocalypse," "scandal" and "disaster" after Italy's latest footballing collapse. "We've made a real mess of it," he says, shaking his head. "We had players who couldn't even find the target.

" "The golden days of Italian football are well and truly gone. " On Tuesday night in Zenica, four-time World Cup winners Italy failed to qualify for the tournament for a third consecutive time, losing 4-1 on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina after being reduced to 10 men before halftime. Since winning the World Cup in 2006, the Azzurri have largely disappointed in international tournaments - with the exception of their surprise victory at the Euros in 2021 against England at Wembley.

"We are what our results say we are," Silvestri said. "When you shoot and can't even hit the goal, you're not going to go far. When it comes to taking the game home, Italy just doesn't get there anymore.

" Last night's defeat drew swift and emotional reactions across Italian politics and society. "Everything has a limit," lamented Ignazio La Russa, president of the Senate and a senior figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party. In a post on X, he wrote: "We're not going to the World Cup.