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Italy’s
goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon reacts during the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification
football match between Italy and Sweden, on November 13, 2017 at the San Siro
stadium in Milan. AFP Photo / Marco Bertorello
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A tearful Gianluigi
Buffon quit international football as four-time champions Italy sensationally
missed out on their first World Cup finals in 60 years after a playoff defeat
to Sweden on Monday.
AFP
report continues:
Coach
Gian Piero Ventura also said he would consider his future after the Azzuri drew
0-0 in the second leg of their tie with Sweden, who qualified 1-0 on aggregate.
Italian
press called it an “apocalypse” for the team, who last failed to qualify for
the 1958 World Cup and have played every other edition apart from the inaugural
tournament in 1930.
“I’m
not sorry for myself but all of Italian football, because we failed at
something which also means something on a social level,” said an emotional
Buffon as he confirmed his retirement.
The
39-year-old goalkeeper, who lifted the 2006 World Cup in Germany, who had been
hoping to compete in a record sixth World Cup.
Buffon,
who has 175 international caps, had already announced that the World Cup finals
in Russia would be his last.
But
Ventura made no announcement about his position despite failing to lead the
1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 winners to their 19th World Cup.
The
former Torino coach said he would first talk to the Italian federation
president before making a decision on his future.
“Resign?
I don’t know. I have to evaluate an infinity of things. I have not yet spoken
to the president,” said Ventura. “It doesn’t depend on me, I’m not in the state
of mind to face this question.”
“It’s
a very heavy result to bear, because I was absolutely convinced that we had
this ferocious desire to overcome the obstacle.”
The
game at Milan’s San Siro stadium witnessed a generational shift for Italy, with
Buffon and fellow 2006 veterans Andrea Barzagli and Daniele De Rossi all
quitting the team, while Giorgio Chiellini also hung up his Azzurri jersey.
“The
era of four or five veterans comes to a close, the one of the hungry young
players coming through begins and that’s how it should be,” said Ventura, who
took over from Chelsea coach Antonio Conte in 2016 with a contract until June
2020.
–
‘Intolerable football shame’ –
Italy
dominated possession but struggled to create enough clear-cut chances, as
Sweden secured a first appearance at the finals since 2006 courtesy of Jakob
Johansson’s first-leg strike in Stockholm.
Ventura
had made changes from Friday’s defeat with Brazil-born Jorginho making his
Italy debut and Alessandro Florenzi and Manolo Gabbiadini also handed starts,
although Napoli’s in-form winger Lorenzo Insigne was again left on the bench.
As
the clock ticked down, De Rossi was asked by Ventura to warm up but he pointed
at Insigne instead.
“I
just said we were near the end and had to win, so send the strikers to warm
up,” said De Rossi. “I pointed to Insigne too. I just thought perhaps it was
better that Insigne come on instead.”
Buffon
even came up for two corners in a final desperate gamble but Italy fell
desperately short, leading to damning headlines in the Italian press.
“Italy,
this is the apocalypse,” ran a headline on the website of sports daily Gazzetta
dello Sport.
“Wasted
chances, a bit of bad luck but zero goals in 180 minutes against the Swedes,
who will go to Russia,” Gazzetta commented.
Corriere
dello Sport, said it will be painful for the country to be on the sidelines
when the World Cup kicks off in Russia in June.
“It
is an intolerable football shame, an indelible stain,” the newspaper said.
“It is over. Apocalypse,
tragedy, catastrophe.”
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