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OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - Printable Version

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OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - Viking_Guy - 11-13-2017

If you thought the US missing the 2018 World Cup was bad...

Italy just failed to qualify, losing to Sweden 1-0 on aggregate over two matches.

The Azzurri are not in the World Cup for the first time since 1958, and the ONLY country ever to win the Cup that will not be in Russia.

Wow.

VG


Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - DC 86 - 11-13-2017

Italy (a four time World Cup champion) not qualifying is brutal, and obviously a much bigger story than the U.S. not qualifying.

However, it's not an apples to apples comparison in that European qualifying is exponentially tougher than North/Central American qualifying. Italy was in the same group as Spain in the previous round where only one team qualifies automatically; they finished second and thus had the tough home/away set against a solid Sweden team.

Meanwhile the U.S. finished 5th in its six-team group behind Panama and Honduras, needing only to tie Trinidad and Tobago in the final match to qualify automatically, and inexcusably laid an egg.

Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - Viking_Guy - 11-13-2017

DC-

Yep, that's the context.  It's not the relative quality of the exits - the U.S. loss was an indictment of the entire federation set-up.

Italy's exit is substantially related to their on-field performance; they have been pretty lackluster for the last couple of cycles, being eliminated in both group stages, albeit with the "biting" game being one of the losses. But that level of play would've easily qualified in any federation except for Conmebol.

In a larger context, though, it's also an indictment of the FIFA ranking system, which was used to set up the pools for qualifying.  Portugal, Wales, Romania, and Croatia all were "pot 1" seeds; Italy, France, Sweden, and Poland were all pot 2 or 3,  meaning they were going to be in a group facing one of the top 9.  Maybe Wales or Romania, but also maybe Germany, or Spain, or England.  Serbia got the luck of facing Wales as their top seed, and Poland got Romania; both of those teams won their groups.

And a fair bit to luck.  Beyond the bad draw of Spain as their pot 1 seed, they got the short end of the stick drawing Sweden as their opponent in the playoffs (other matchups were Switzerland/Northern Ireland; Denmark/Ireland; and Greece/Croatia.)  Sweden qualified in a tie for fifth-best second place team, but that was because they were in the toughest group, with three top-flight teams in France and the Netherlands.  They aced out the Dutch on goal differential, but because they had fewer points, they were place in "pot 2" as a weaker second-place team. 

The result wasn't the shock, to me; just the prospect of Italy not making the Cup, and the likely changes coming in qualification because of it.  If nothing else, FIFA's ranking system is definitely going to get a closer look from an obsessed fanbase.

VG


Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - Stymie - 11-13-2017

Great to hear this in that my eldest daughter lives in Sweden, and I can think of a road trip to Russia!  I've always wanted to visit Leningrad......

Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - yvonne - 11-13-2017

US is eliminated in straight CONCACAF. Italy loses a playoff in UEFA qualifying. Yep, you’re right Italy is worse than the US.🙄

Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - Viking_Guy - 11-13-2017

Sorry, Yvonne, should've said "If you thought the USMNT not qualifying provoked a reaction..." but that was a bit long for a post subject :).

VG


Re: OT: If you thought USMNT was bad... - dabigv13 - 11-13-2017

Ventura was a failure from the start. The sad thing is how good an Italian squad could play with a coach like, well, Conte with most of the same players in Euro 2016.

Absolutely disgraceful. Sad for Gigi to go out like that. My hope is for Sarri to lead the squad in WC 2022.