Italy’s repechage to the World Cup: Luis Figo throws fuel on the fire

Italy is the big absentee at the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Despite the fact that the rainbow event is in its first expanded edition, with 48 teams competing for the World Cup including exotic Curaçao, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan, the Italian national team has resoundingly failed to qualify, for the third consecutive edition.

But the Azzurri could resoundingly participate, entering through the back door: the war in the Gulf could in fact cause Iran’s absence from the World Cup, although so far FIFA President Infantino has assured that Tehran’s selection will be there, despite the Middle Eastern country’s request not to play on U.S. soil. A possible forfeit could trigger the repechage of an excluded, and among the papabili would be Italy, the best placed in the ranking among the eliminated.

An eventuality that does not like at all the former Ballon d’Or Luis Figo, who made himself heard on the sidelines of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid: “Regarding the repechage, I don’t know what would be the basis for directly repechaging Italy and not other national teams, frankly it would be questionable…,” are the words reported by Sportmediaset.

The former Inter, Real and Barcelona champion rather invited the Azzurri to reflect on what happened: “It’s a pity that Italy, which is a soccer powerhouse, is not at the World Cup. I think people in Italy, the managers, everyone who is part of the national team should reflect.”

“We need deep reflection, because if you get eliminated once okay, if it’s two it’s strange but if it becomes three you need to think about restructuring, produce more talent, if you don’t win it’s not just a structural issue but a quality issue.”