The Italians could take the World Cup ticket. The losses against Norway in the group stage were to be rectified by sending Bosnia and Herzegovina off the field with a loss in the playoff final. It ended with a loss and exit from Italy, for the third World Cup finals in a row. Then it comes out badly that confident national team players at Italy tried to get a bonus before the final. Playing Italy at the World Cup should be bonus enough.
Bosnia-Heczegovina was the final hurdle in the battle to qualify for this summer’s playoffs, and there are indications that the Italian players were confident going into that fateful match. According to La Repubblica , the national team squad tried to negotiate a World Cup bonus of 300,000 euros – equivalent to around 10,000 euros per player.
READ: Has “full control” of Harry Kane signing
According to the Italian media, national team coach Gennaro Gattuso got the players to stop the continued negotiations with the Italian Football Federation. Instead, he believed that a bonus should only be negotiated if it ended in qualification.
“This says everything about the attitude some Italian players had towards the game that could have brought Italy back to a World Cup final,” writes La Repubblica.
