Azzuri Blues: In 2018, Italy failed to win a berth in the World Cup for the first time in the competition’s nearly century-old history, and the country was understandably shocked. Had Italy not won the cup four times, played in six finals, and appeared regularly in the quarter- and semifinal rounds? For a time, this was excused as an awful glitch, a hubris check. But Italy was then excluded from the 2022 and 2026 Cup, eliminated by mini-minnows North Macedonia and Bosnia. Glitch was gone, and shame took center stage. So what’s gone wrong? The reality is that Italy’s vivaio, or farm system, has run dry. While kids between six and 16 still play in the streets and parks, some have turned to soccer esports and the like for amusement.

Raw talent is now harder to spot. Italian league clubs have made matters worse by coming to depend on mercenary talent from outside Italy. Such talent is cheaper and often better. Finally, unlike France, England, and Germany, Italy has no homegrown Black talent, cutting it out of the powerful African youth market. Few African families choose to settle in Italy, still a deeply racist nation with few faces of color in the public arena. These realities, when bookended, can make for an impoverishment of talent, with no American college-style pipeline to come to the rescue. No one brilliant manager can cure this. The failure is cultural as well as sporting. When Italy last won, in 2006 against France, the nation came to a proud standstill. But names like Zoff, Rossi, Baggio, and Maldini are gone with the wind, which means a great deal of time may pass before Italian players again hoist a World Cup trophy.