An unexpected situation has arisen around the Italian national team. According to sources, the team's players have raised the issue of additional bonuses before the decisive match for the 2026 World Cup qualification. This was reported by La Repubblica with reference to Football Italia.
It is reported that before the play-off final against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the players wanted to reach an agreement with the federation on a bonus of approximately 300 thousand euros. They saw this bonus as an incentive to qualify for the World Cup.
However, the team's head coach Gennaro Gattuso expressed his opinion on this issue, stressing that it is wrong to hold financial negotiations before the match. In his opinion, attention should be focused only on the game on the field. Therefore, the coach called on the players not to be distracted by this topic and to discuss all the talk after the match.
However, events did not develop as expected. In the decisive match, the Italian national team fought hard against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The score of regular time ended 1:1 and the winner was determined in a penalty shootout.
Unfortunately, it was at this time that the Italians suffered a setback. The “squadra azzurra” lost 1:4 in a penalty shootout and missed out on a place in the 2026 World Cup.
This result was a big blow not only for the fans, but also for the football community. Many argue that in this case, the topic of pre-match bonuses may have had a negative impact on the team's morale.
In short, this incident was a big lesson for Italy: before big games, you need to focus on the result, not money. Now the team faces a new stage - rebuilding and coming back stronger for the future.
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