Perhaps most of the football supporters wanted a world cup with italy. Firstly, because with four triumphs, the 'Azzurri' is one of the greatest contenders historically. And yet, they didn't show the necessary strength against Sweden to go through the finals. Certainly, the Nordics are not a brilliant team, nonetheless, they have taken out both Italy and Netherlands to reach the tournament.
In spite of this, Buffon won't play in his sixth World Cup, that would have been a record in the history of the competition. Probably this is the saddest part of the matter, but this is a consequent of some bad decisions that have been done in the Italian management.
As a result of this disaster, the president of the Italian Federation, Carlo Tavecchio, and the coach, Gian Piero Ventura, have both left their jobs.
Besides Buffon, the defenders Barzagli and Chiellini and probably De Rossi won't play anymore for the national team, as they have announced. Therefore, the main structure of Italy has broken in pieces, same as their supporters dream to reach the World Cup.
Thus, the last members of the team that brilliantly won the tournament in 2006 have finally gone. And now, it is time for players such as Insigne, Bernardeschi, Jorginho, Rugani and Donnarumma to build a solid squad, as it often was, for becoming again one of the best teams in Europe.
The Netherlands miss the second tournament in a row
Clearly, it was a huge surprise that the runners-up in 2010 and third in 2014 couldn't even reach the last Eurocup. And considering that they finished behind Iceland, the Czech Republic and Turkey in the qualification group, it shows the crisis that is evolving the national team.
Since 2004, they have been showing a team full of talented players, such as Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder. Precisely, the decadence due to age in the last years of these players is maybe the answer to their failures in reaching the tournaments.
Despite #Robben, who is still showing details of his quality and also has retired from his national team, the rest of the players are not good enough to fit in the mythical 'Clockwork Orange', that once was integrated for Cruyff, Van Basten or Bergkamp.
Drama in America: Chile and USA didn´t qualify
Even though the South American group of qualification it is really hard, with teams such as Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay, the elimination of the continental champion it is indeed a loss for the neutral supporters.
However, with three defeats and just one win in the last four matches, eventually, they finished behind Peru, clearly the revelation of the stage.
On the other hand, the USA lost his last match against Trinidad & Tobago, that was already eliminated. Therefore, Panamá and Honduras got the third and fourth position respectively, leaving Howard, Bradley and Pulisic out of the World Cup.
