Italy made heartbreaking history on Tuesday night, as they missed their third straight World Cup bid following a loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Italy is now the first World Cup-winning team to miss three consecutive tournaments following the penalty-kick shootout loss in the European playoffs. 

The nation was once a soccer powerhouse, winning it all four times with its most recent in 2006. But recent years have not been kind to the Italian squad, and they were feeling the pain of the loss after the match. 

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Pio Esposito of Italy disappointment  during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs  match between Bosnia & Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Image Photo Agency)

“We still don’t believe it – that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy’s Leonardo Spinazzola said to reporters, per the New York Post. “It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”

After 90 minutes and extra time, both nations were stuck in a 1-1 tie, and the penalty shootout was needed to determine a winner. Italy eventually fell to Bosnia and Herzegovina, 4-1, in the shootout, as Esmir Bajraktarevic secured the victory with the final goal. 

SIX WORLD CUP SPOTS LEFT! ITALY, POLAND, JAMAICA AMONG TEAMS WHO CAN QUALIFY

It didn’t help that Italy was playing with just 10 men on the field after Alessandro Bastoni received a red card before halftime. Bosnia and Herzegovina used the man advantage to tie the game in the 79th minute, as Haris Tabakovic scored the equalizer. 

Italy’s defender Alessandro Bastoni receives a red card from the referee during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European qualification final football match between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy at the Bilino-Polje stadium in Zenica on March 31, 2026. (Elvis BARUKCIC / AFP)

Moise Kean was able to strike first for Italy in the 15th minute, giving them the momentum they were searching for coming into the match. However, they were never able to rally in the end. 

While Italy remains one of only three nations to ever win the World Cup four times in history, they can’t seem to find what it takes to get to the tournament. 

In 2018, Italy fell at the hands of Sweden, while North Macedonia shocked them in 2022 in the qualifiers. 

Gianluigi Donnarumma of Italy reacts during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia & Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Srdjan Stevanovic – UEFA)

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Now, Bosnia and Herzegovina will try their luck in Group B when the World Cup kicks off, starting with a match against Canada. They will also face Qatar and Switzerland in the group stage. 

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Here we are in the last two months of the 2025-26 season.

The title race completely passed us by months ago, and unfortunately that has become standard procedure in the last few years. After the tremendous run of results in January had us thinking of a comfortable spot in the top four in Serie A, the crushing reality of February and, to some extent March, made us realize that today’s Juventus team is barely/merely good enough to hang around the outskirts of the fourth, fifth and sixth positions.

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Last month had a little bit of (almost) everything — dramatic comebacks, last-minute goals, crushing victories, penalty misses, and corto muso performances.

Let’s get started.

Falling into the Europa League?

We started the month with a blockbuster 3-3 draw away at Roma. After a tight first half, the hosts took the lead just before the break when Brazilian wingback Wesley cut inside from the edge of the box and curled a lovely right-footed shot into the top corner and just past Mattia Perin’s fingertips. We equalized immediately after the break when Conceição scored with an incredible half volley that almost ripped the net in half.

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A 10-minute spell then turned the game firmly into Roma’s favor. Evan Ndicka barged his way past Andrea Cambiaso and volleyed home from Lorenzo Pellegrini’s corner kick. Then, the reborn Donyell Malen received an incredible pass from Manu Kone, beat the offside trap, and chipped the ball over Perin who was too slow to come off his line. (And I thought sweeper-keepers were overrated …) Jeremie Boga brought us back into the game when he scored with a tremendous volley after Edon Zhegrova’s deflected cross fell to him. His goal was the beginning of a great run of games he had in March.

The game had a dramatic conclusion in the 93rd minute thanks to our beloved bricklayer Federico Gatti. Once again, Zhegrova was the catalyst as his cross from the free kick created havoc in the box. Gatti pounced (ha!) on the loose ball and smashed in the half volley to deny Roma the victory in a brilliant game of football.

We returned to winning ways with a big 4-0 home win against Pisa. Remarkably, all goals came in the second half and, curiously, after Spalletti switched to a 3-4-3 with Boga/Yildiz as a false 9. Cambiaso scored the first goal when he headed in from a great chipped cross from Yildiz. The second came quickly afterwards: Manuel Locatelli’s pinpoint shot hit the post and the rebound fell to Khephren Thuram who tapped the ball into an open goal.

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The goals kept coming. Yildiz collected a pass from Conceição, slipped past the defender, and blasted the ball into goal. Boga put the cherry on top with a goal in stoppage time after he received a perfect through ball from Locatelli, rounded the goalkeeper, and scored in the empty net: 4-0!

Boga continued his great month by scoring the game’s only goal in a tight 1-0 victory over Udinese. Kelly played a fantastic long ball to Yildiz, who charged into the box and crossed low to Boga. The Ivorian held his run excellently and, as a result, was in the perfect position for the easy tap-in. The Bianconeri controlled the rest of the game and probably should have scored more to put the game to bed, but in fairness Udinese posed such little offensive threat that the victory was never in doubt.

The final game of the month against Sassuolo was the one that, in my eyes, ended our chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Remarkably, goalkeeper Perin created the first goal when his excellent long outlet pass released Conceição on the counterattack. He dribbled his way into the box and squared the ball for Yildiz, who scored with a low, accurate shot.

As has happened time and time again this season, Juventus conceded from its first (and only!) shot on target. Sassuolo played a nice bit of one-touch passing on the edge of the box and the ball came to Berardi on the right wing. The winger squared the ball for Andrea Pinamonti who, after bullying Gleison Bremer of the ball in the buildup to the goal, ghosted past the Brazilian defender to poke the ball into goal from Berardi’s low cross. The Bianconeri won a very soft penalty after Jonathan David’s cross hit a defender’s arm, but goalkeeper Arijanet Muric caught Locatelli’s incredibly weak penalty kick. It ended 1-1 and we fell further behind in the race for Top 4.

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Juventus Women

Juventus Women opened the month with a solid 2-0 victory over Fiorentina in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal. Chiara Beccari scored in the ninth minute thanks to a nice assist from Ana Capeta. The Portuguese forward then capped a match-winning performance with a goal in the 51st minute after latching onto Viola Calligaris’s great through ball and scoring with a shot at the near post.

It wasn’t a great month of results in the league, though.

AC Milan beat the Bianconere 1-0 thanks to Thea Kyvag’s goal early in the second half, but the deciding moment came just a few minutes earlier in stoppage time of the first half. Kay-Lee de Sanders fouled Capeta in the box but goalkeeper Sandra Estevez saved Emma Stolen Godo’s penalty, resulting in a disappointing 1-0 loss. We followed that loss with a frustrating goalless draw against bottom-of-the-table Genoa.

Thankfully, Juve ended the month on a high note with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal. Capeta ended a fantastic month with two goals in this game. The first was a wonderful curled shot from the edge of the box that went in off the post and the second a header from a corner kick. Iris Omarsdottir scored from a rebound after a corner kick resulted in Katla Tryggvadottir hitting the post. Juventus cruised to a 2-1 victory (4-1 on aggregate) over Fiorentina and will meet Roma (who else?) in the final!

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New starts with false 9s?

During the winter transfer window, the big story was Juventus’s attempt to get another striker, likely on a short-term deal. Dusan Vlahovic has since only recently returned from injury and still hasn’t extended his contract that expires in a few months, Arek Milik has risen from the dead after missing nearly two seasons due to injury, and Loïs Openda and Jonathan David haven’t worked out the way we thought they would.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Spalletti has tinkered accordingly to find a solution while his strikers find their purpose in life form. He has tried two solutions: playing Weston McKennie as a striker and playing a false nine. Remarkably, McKennie was actually quite good in that position — is it still a surprise that McKennie plays well everywhere on the pitch? — but we need him more urgently in other areas.

The false 9 experiment began catastrophically when the attack was terrible in the first half of the first game against Napoli. But the experiment has caught fire recently as a combination of Yildiz and, more importantly, Boga have done quite well as false 9s. The Ivorian, in particular, seems to be a good fit for the position as he is faster and more physically dominant than the Turkish forward and more comfortable with his back to goal.

But as I mentioned earlier, Milik and Vlahovic are now (fully?) fit, which means that Spalletti has another problem on his hands: who do you play/drop? Boga is in fantastic form, Yildiz is the team’s top contributor in attack, and McKennie is one of the most important players in the team. Conceição is hot and cold, but we don’t have many players comfortable on the right wing.

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It’s an important question to ask because, despite having the third-best attack in the league, we are remarkably wasteful in attack. We have 12 shots per game compared to Inter’s 13 shots per game, but the league leaders have scored 14 goals more than us, highlighting the significant difference in the teams’ effectiveness in front of goal. To emphasize this even further, the two teams have essentially the same number of shots per target (185 for us, 184 for Inter).

So what is the new power ranking for the Bianconeri’s attackers? Let’s find out after the international break.

Lionel Messi was the subject of praise from fans after he gifted teammate Nicolas Otamendi a penalty during Argentina’s 5-0 win over Zambia on Tuesday. It was an emotional moment as the match was most likely Otamendi’s last game on Argentine soil, marking the end of an era for one of the country’s most committed defenders.

In a bid to head into the 2026 World Cup on a high, La Albiceleste started the game strongly and took the lead after four minutes through Julian Alvarez, with Messi providing the assist. Just before the break, Messi doubled the advantage following a one-touch move with Alexis Mac Allister.

The lovely gesture came after Albert Kangwanda committed a foul on Thiago Almada three minutes into the second half. Rather than take the penalty, Messi signaled to Otamendi and handed the ball to him. The veteran defender seized the opportunity and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to score his country’s third of the night and his eighth goal for the national team.

Zambia’s woes were worsened as Dominik Chanda scored an own goal midway through the second half while Valentin Barco added the cherry on top in stoppage time.

While Argentina fans were thrilled with the convincing victory, some were drawn to Messi’s ‘selfless’ act and took to X to laud him for it.

One wrote:

“This is what a real leader looks like.”

Another tweeted:

“This is one of the many reasons players love sharing the pitch with him ❤️”

A third poked fun at Lionel Messi’s archrival, Cristiano Ronaldo, saying the Portuguese would never do something like that.

“Ronaldo would NEVER do something like this in a million years lol,” they remarked.

“That’s why they adore and respect him,” another chimed in.

Otamendi, meanwhile couldn’t hold back his tears after being substituted in the 69th minute, hugging his teammates including Lionel Messi before leaving the pitch.

Lionel Messi reaches goal scoring milestone after scoring in Argentina’s 5-0 win over Zambia

In what was his likely last-ever home game with Argentina, Lionel Messi added another feather to his illustrious cap. His 43rd minute stunner against Zambia meant he has now scored against 40 different countries with Argentina, for 117 national team goals.

Messi is expected to retire from the national team after the World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, he has yet to guarantee his presence at this competition this summer.

The 38-year-old is currently Argentina’s most capped player and all-time leading scorer.