When Italy was the first team to lose to Italy in World Cup qualifying

It was 1974 and the two teams were playing in the European Championship final.

As Italy was in the semi-finals of the tournament and their star player was Juventus midfielder Alessandro Del Piero, the game was being played on grass, and the Italy team was led by Alessandro De Rossi. 

Italy had lost to Spain and had to play on grass.

The score was 1-0 in favour of Italy, with the referee saying: “It is an absolutely impossible thing that Italy has beaten the world champions.”

The Italian players were not too happy about it, and they decided to protest by walking off the pitch, shouting “No!

No!

No!”

It is a famous scene in Italian football history, which was captured by Italian photographer Angelo Sotelli in the documentary “Il Todo”, where the players were protesting against their captain. 

However, this was not the first time that Italy had lost in World Cups qualifiers. 

In fact, Italy had to take the title in each of their last two World Cups, with a defeat to South Africa in 1973. 

When they were playing against South Africa on the pitch that night, the Italian players said that they did not think they would be able to play that well on grass because it was so tough on the bodies.

They went on to play a match against Portugal on the same pitch, and this time, it was a different story. 

The referee said “I cannot give you a penalty because the ball was not touched by the opponent.

So you have to take your place, and I will not give you the penalty.

The player in the other team is injured.” 

The player in question was Antonio Barragán, a former professional footballer who was not in the Italian squad that had lost against South African, but was instead present on the field. 

He was injured after his tackle on a Portuguese player, who was also injured by a kick that Barragan landed on his leg. 

“I told the officials to stop the game, but they were still shouting for me to give them a penalty,” said Barragnan, who had also been injured by Barraganno’s tackle. 

 Barragán told the media that the referee was very rude to him, saying “You are in the wrong place.

You do not know the rules.

You have to follow the rules.” 

After the match, Barragancan spoke to the media about the incident and his anger towards the referee.

He explained to the press that the player in him was not going to accept the penalty and that he was “saddened” that he had been injured, and that the Italian team was not to blame for the penalty given. 

A few months later, Baragancan’s team lost a match on the grass against France. 

After losing the match to France, Italy lost to Scotland in the second qualifying round. 

While Barragans goal against Scotland was a penalty, the referee had said “You do not have the right to take that penalty”. 

When Italy faced Scotland on the first qualifying round, the match was played on the turf, with Italy having a 1-1 draw with the Scotland team. 

It was a 3-2 victory for Italy, and Italy had the first ever victory over Scotland in World War II. 

Despite the loss to Scotland, Italy qualified for the World Cup final for the first year in a row. 

With Italy not having a great result against Scotland, the decision was made by the Italians to play the match on grass instead. 

Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon said in an interview that he felt that the pitch was better, because he had experienced it before and had not been hurt badly, adding that it was “a shame the grass was not better”. 

This was the last time that the two countries met in a World Cup qualifier, and for a long time, the two sides did not meet again until the 1974 World Cup qualifiers.

The match was abandoned when Italy lost the first game, with Spain beating Italy 2-0 on aggregate in a final that Italy won 3-1. 

But that was not all.

In the following years, Italy did not have many good matches against the teams that they beat in the World Cups. 

During the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Italy played the same opposition as they had faced in 1974 in the group stages.

They were beaten 3-0 by Portugal, and then again in the same game by Spain, and lost to South Korea. 

On the other hand, during the 1970 FIFA World Championship, Italy faced the same opponents as they did in 1974, and beat them 2-1 on aggregate. 

Later in the 1970s, Italy was again facing South Korea in the Group Stage.

They won the first two games against them, and won the next two by a score of 3-3, but were beaten in