Italy’s repechage to the World Cup: a'another excellent outcast claims a spot

The Italian national team continues to keep a flame of hope lit toward the 2026 World Cup, given the constant rumors of a forfeit by Iran in an extremely delicate geopolitical context, and Article 6.7 of the FIFA regulations, which provides for the designation of a substitute at the discretion of the international federation itself in the event of a forfeit by an already qualified selection, keeps the door open at least until 30 days before the kickoff of the first match of the rainbow review.

In recent days there has been talk of a “super playoff” among some of the best national teams excluded as a result of the qualifiers: the selections most discussed are Italy (best overall ranking among the excluded), Nigeria (best ranking among the Africans), the United Arab Emirates and Bolivia (both out at the last hurdles). However, there are those who are not up for it, feeling further excluded: this is, for example, the case of Cameroon.

In Yaoundé, in fact, there are those who raise their voices, pointing out that the only African national team to end a World Cup without defeat (in Spain 1982, in fact, it obtained three draws that did not, however, earn qualification to the next stage), as well as the only one, again among Africans, to defeat Brazil in the World Cup, should not be excluded a priori from the repechage discourse, demanding that media and political attention should not focus exclusively on Nigeria.

The idea that Nigeria can automatically be considered the African candidate of choice is perceived by many in Cameroon as a failing toward a national team that has written fundamental pages of the continent’s soccer history. The scenario, therefore, is still to be defined and until the deadline, that of May 12, the idea is that everything can change even in a matter of hours, not only with regard to our national team.