The best teams you won't see at the 2026 World Cup
After the 2022 World Cup had 32 teams, the 2026 World Cup has 48. However, there were still some World Cup stalwarts that missed out despite the tournament’s expansion. Here’s a look at the best teams you won’t see playing in this summer’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United Stat
After the 2022 World Cup had 32 teams, the 2026 World Cup has 48. However, there were still some World Cup stalwarts that missed out despite the tournament’s expansion.
Here’s a look at the best teams you won’t see playing in this summer’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico . And that list is topped by a perennial power that is going through an unprecedented period of malaise.
It’s almost unfathomable that the 2026 World Cup is the third straight tournament without the Italians.
A nation that has four World Cups to its name and one just 20 years ago has not made the World Cup since 2014. The perennial contenders have absolutely cratered. It wasn’t that long ago that Italy entered every World Cup with a plausible path to the title. Instead, the Italians’ unsolvable equation has simply become about how to qualify.
Italy missed out on this World Cup thanks to a dreadful performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina during one of the UEFA finals to make the tournament. After finishing a distant second to Norway in Group I of World Cup qualifying, Italy was sent to the playoffs, where it had to win two games to make the newly expanded World Cup.
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The Italians were drawn into a four-team bracket with Wales, Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who won the right to host the final with a win over Wales. The Bosnians beat the Welsh in penalty kicks, while Italy eased past Northern Ireland 2-0.
Everything fell apart in the playoff final, however. Moise Kean put Italy up 1-0 in the 15th minute, but Alessandro Bastoni was given a straight red card in the 41st minute for a desperate tackle. With Italy down to 10 men for the rest of the match, a Bosnian equalizer was inevitable. It finally happened in the 79th minute before the game went to penalties. There, the Italians scored just once, before Bosnia closed it out in the fourth round of kicks.
