Italy supporters desperate to see their country at the 2022 World Cup should not get their hopes up at the latest FIFA announcement that they are investigating alleged foul play for Ecuador, who qualified for Qatar.
On Wednesday, football’s governing body announced they were officially looking into allegations made by the Chilean FA that Ecuador falsified the documents of player Byron Castillo.
Chile’s claim is that Castillo has a Colombian birth certificate which states he was born in 1995 and not 1998 as his Ecuadorian one reads.
Castillo played eight matches throughout qualifying – including twice against Chile, who failed to reach the World Cup, and Ecuador picked up four points against La Roja.
The player did not feature against Peru, who finished above Chile in the intercontinental play-off spot, and they have also been asked to provide evidence.
Should Ecuador be found guilty, it is likely they will lose the points gained from matches in which Castillo featured, so the five points awarded to Chile would see them finish above and therefore replace La Tri at the World Cup.
This seems fair to me. Italy failed to make the WC again. Period. We’ll try again next time.
2018 failures caused 2020 winner… wish Italy can win again in 2024
@Sheva7 – If Italy win Euro 2024 then expect them to go downhill again and maybe not qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Doesn’t matter, Gel. I’d take a Euros win than a WC participation any day of the week. I’m sure England would immediately sign up for that, too… Instead they sing songs with updated lyrics.
Well stated Norata and I also agree with Azzurrofan. We didn’t qualify so end of. FIFA is a lot to blame by having other countries instead of good European footballing sides. Lets be honest Poland lost in their group with England and yet qualify. Italia never lost in their group and yet will not be there. To finish all of this off once and for all. If there was a choice to Win the Euros and not qualify or lose the Euros and qualify for the WC. I would say the answer by most countries would have been to Win the Euros so for now we are European Champions. In Italian we would say “Per adesso ci basta”. We will return even stronger. I certainly would not be watching the WC as I already know England have already won it without even playing!!!!!
What a joke Italy has a nation and soccer nation have become They need another country to be disqualified to make it to World Cup. Ask Spain / Germany/ Portugal if they need any help to qualify
God miss the days of the 70/80/90’s when Italy was Italy. What it meant to be an Italian.
I’m with Norata on this one!
different continent allocation so no chance at all. Agree with Norata and Tonino would take the Win in Euros than WC participation any day of the week.. Would be weird to see 3 European in team in 2022 semi-finals (where the likelihood is that some of those teams were beaten by Italy enroute to euro 2020 win -take your pick- belgium, spain, england,). Well that;s football..
Plain and simple we failed to qualify and why would FIFA give a spot to another team from UEFA vs Conembol…
I’m not following the logic of a lot of people here. Italy should be there because they didn’t lose in qualifying and won the Euros so therefore forget the world cup because they didn’t qualify? Well somebody else beat more teams, which is why Italy was second in their group, including failing to beat N. Ireland and Switzerland (TWICE). Finally losing to MACEDONIA. Hello! Italy went 4-4-0 in in the group. This is not world-beating form. People are acting like they went 8-0-0 and then somehow were denied entry. Grow up. It was a failure. Plain and simple. Anyone saying a 4 time winner shouldn’t be there is not a fan.
Agree with Vero and Norata, Italy didn’t deserve to be there because they couldn’t win enough games, even though we didn’t lose.Not losing doesn’t mean winning, it’s a draw and only worth 1 point everyone plays to the same rules Unfortunately we we not good enough after the euros win, would definitely take a euros win, it’s been like 52 years since we won it,long overdue . Let’s enjoy being reigning euro champions and focus on the next generation, time to bring in the new up and coming talent that I hope the serie a clubs will introduce in the future. We should look pretty decent for the next euros and wc.
What talent Italy don’t produce talent anymore. At best they produce average players
It’s sad
Chile is in a SAD places trying to get into the world cup thru the back door.
Ecuador referee and lines crew in 2002 fixed the match against South Korea and Italy was sent home.
Never anything done about that,
It’s time to forget the 2022 world cup Italy didnt qualify and that’s that…
The world Cup is a joke these days, Qatar hosting the tournament in itself shows how much corruption there is in fifa… Yes I would like to Italy to represent but for me the Euros are a tougher more prestigious tournament that’s a lot more difficult to win… The end..
Vero is correct.
Stop acting like they went 8-0. Undefeated, sure. But half their Results were Draws. They made sure to beat Lithuania 5-0 but the killer was the Draw versus Bulgaria in Florence.
OR. Just ONE of those PK’s by Jorginho in either match versus Switzerland was enough.
The match in Basel should have been an Italy win as the match played out. Not wrong to say it should have been put to bed by HT. We dominated them. I’m OK with the 1-1 in Rome as that was the fair Result.
These fools were too busy filming a commercial for Poste Italiane instead of training in September 2021.
Thanks for the article FI but nobody believed Italy would get the spot.
I will take the Euro championsip any day over WC qualification. Ask England about. The big news there was the trophy was coming home after 55 years. Hell, they might ne waiting another 55 years to make another major final
Everyone talking about fairness…FIFA is a corrupt institution and world cups have been made off with so many times. Who can forget the Ecuadorian referee Moreno? Please be serious and don’t mix fairness with FIFA. They are playing in Qatar…cmmon!!!