Italy miss out on Qatar World Cup at the end of the year.

 Italy miss out on Qatar World Cup at the end of the year.

Football gasped with astonishment. It can't be happening and yet it has already done so. Italy, for the first time since 1958, will not be taking part in the Qatar World Cup at the end of the year. They were beaten by Sweden in a play off and the European Champions will not be gracing the World Cup with their presence. 

Now the fact is that the Azzurri are indeed European Champions and the absence from a World Cup of an international side who have already captured one of the world's biggest trophies must come as a major shock to the system to those who have always loved the Italian's sense of mystique, their cunning plans, their tactical brilliance and their sometimes overly passionate approach to the game. Over 50 years ago Italian football was still regarded with a good deal of reverence but you were never quite sure what you were going to get with them. They had a commendable relationship with the ball and certainly impressed wherever they went.

Last summer Roberto Mancini led his Italian boulevardiers to the Euro Final against England in a Final that ultimately ended in defeat and disappointment for Gareth Southgate's England. In the second half of that game Southgate's men seemed to run out of petrol and Italy re-designed the game to suit the requirements of a Euro Final. By the end of the game England were running on empty, flagging desperately, chasing the proverbial blue shadows and then surrendering to the Italians when most of us would have preferred it to be the other way around. 

But yesterday the empire once presided over by the wise and knowledgeable Enzo Bearzot came crumbling down and the new dynasty found itself in tatters. The likes of Marco Tardelli and Roberto Bettega, Dino Zoff, Gianni Rivera, the majestic Pirlo and many others suggested that the foundations laid down years ago had a firm stability and could never be broken. Then somebody mentioned catenaccio to the Italians and down came the defensive shutters. The perception of Italian football changed dramatically almost overnight and then they were burdened by negative labels and stereotypes. 

Then of course there were the years when the world wanted nothing to do with the Italians descent into villainy, cold calculation, introversion and, it has to be said, the uglier side to their game. Italy were nasty, wicked, spiteful, full of snide schemes, malicious intent and dirty tackling. They were violent, vile, vicious, thuggish, bullish, belligerent, ruthless and just determined to ruin matches. They hacked down their opponents with career threatening tackling, crunching into their opponents, shins and ankles with all the destructive force of a bulldozer on a building site. 

And yet last summer Italy were a joy to behold, lacing together their passes from back to front with a mathematical accuracy and attacking without inhibition. Their football had re-discovered its nobility, its sense of belonging to a brighter and more positive future. Their football had a real credibility about it, a fluent fluidity, a shining clarity of purpose, a genuine reconnection to the Enzo Bearzot era when international managers like Bearzot used to smoke pipes and look ever so slightly agitated when things went wrong.

The image of a 40 year old goalkeeper in Dino Zoff holding the World Cup aloft still fills the mind with a glow of pleasure. Of course the Italians have been rather too excitable for their own good and their sometimes annoying impetuosity has often let them down. But Italy does like to feel that the world is on their side and if there any signs of a persecution complex then that may be something we've come to expect of the country. 

And so it is that Italy will be cast into the wilderness this winter in Qatar and the World Cup will certainly not be the same without them.  Thankfully the world can rest easy in the knowledge that the wonderful Brazilians will be in Qatar. But a World Cup without Italy is rather like a boat without its rudder, a car without an engine and bread without butter. The two are somehow inseparable. 

Some of us can still remember the famous imagery of the Italians in the 1970 World Cup Final against Brazil when the Azzurri puffed and panted around yellow Brazilian shirts rather like dogs chasing a bone. Remarkably they gave a creditable account of themselves that hot day in Mexico but the likes of Rivelino, Carlos Alberto, Gerson, Tostao and that peerless nobleman Pele, gave the Italians a bewildering run around and by the end the Italians were desperate for oxygen.

Fear not though, the Italy we used to know will be back better than ever before. You can remember the sense of disbelief and incredulity when Holland failed to reach a World Cup Finals. At the moment the knowledge is slowly sinking in and this may not be a bad thing. But the irony of Italy's lofty position in European football at the moment is not lost on any of us. Japan will be at the World Cup in Qatar and that in itself sounds quite exotic so anything may be possible. It is to be hoped that the Russians ostracism from both football and the world will not be regretted. Italy, for their part, can only be distant observers. They will have other World Cups though and for that we should be grateful.