Italy repechage to World Cup, the'former champion makes the Azzurri dream

The issue regarding Italy’s possible repechage to the upcoming World Cup to be held between Mexico, Canada and the United States continues to hold sway. The current geopolitical situation could convince Iran not to participate in the rainbow competition, and Italy is the highest-ranked national team among those excluded from the tournament.

Reached by Gazzetta dello Sport, former midfielder Henrik Larsen dusted off the fairy tale of 1992 European champions Denmark. The Scandinavians had been recalled shortly before the start of the tournament after Yugoslavia’s exclusion due to the war in the Balkans. “We were on vacation with our families and had only one friendly match with the national team scheduled.”

“We were ten days away from the debut but in the qualifying round we had finished second behind Yugoslavia, failing to gain access to the tournament, then Uefa decided to exclude Savicevic and his teammates due to the war in the Balkans. We took their place as repechagees.”

Larsen does not exclude that the same could happen with the Azzurri: “I knew about this possibility, basically it is a very similar case to my Denmark. In 1992 Yugoslavia was excluded as a result of the UN resolution imposing embargo and economic sanctions, and this time Iran might change its mind and not present the team because of the conflict with the US. Anything can happen.”

“Italy has not participated in the World Cup for 12 years,” recalled the former Pisa player, among others.”

When I played, Serie A was one of the most coveted leagues. It was a pity that only three foreign players could be registered per team. The Azzurri were almost unbeatable, today the fans should be happy if the repechage hypothesis materialized.”