World Cup expansion comes too late to save Italy

ZURICH, (Reuters) - Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years showed that soccer still has a unique knack for toppling the mighty, although such upsets are far more likely in the international game.

The club game, on the other hand, is increasingly the preserve of a affluent few — as shown by further titles for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus.

Four-times world champions Italy, last absent from the finals in 1958, were beaten 1-0 on aggregate by Sweden in a twoleg playoff, their fate being sealed by a goalless draw on a surreal November night at San Siro.

The United States, South American champions Chile and three-times runners-up the Netherlands will join Italy on the sidelines as will Cameroon, winners of the African Nations Cup in Gabon at the start of the year.

Argentina also came perilously close to missing out on next year’s tournament in Russia after an indifferent campaign in which three different coaches occupied the hot seat.

Lionel Messi came to the rescue, scoring a hat-trick at 2,800 metres above sea level as they squeezed home with a 3-1 win away to Ecuador in very last of their 18 games.

The chances of the traditional powers missing out will diminish greatly from 2026 onwards after global soccer body FIFA voted last January to increase the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams.

The new-look tournament will also feature an unwieldy opening phase with 16 groups of three, from which the top two in each will proceed to a round of 32. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said it would give more smaller nations the chance to “dream” of a place at the finals.

Iceland and Panama needed no such help as they qualified for their first-ever World Cups while Peru made it for the first time in 36 years - an eternity in the soccer-mad country which twice reached the final eight in the 1970s.