Gennaro Gattuso has been asked to stay on as coach of the national team, Italy’s football chief said moments after Tuesday’s play-off defeat to Bosnia and Hercegovina which meant the Azzurri will miss out on a third straight World Cup.
Italy lost the penalty shoot-out 4-1 after drawing 1-1 in Zenica, and became the first World Cup winners to miss three consecutive editions of the tournament, which this year will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“I’ve asked him to stay and asked (Gianluigi) Buffon to stay in charge of the football side,” Gabriele Gravina, president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), told reporters.
Buffon has a role within the FIGC which involves overseeing the senior and youth national teams, and he said he would wait until the end of the current season in June before making a decision on his future.
Asked whether he would accept Gravina’s invitation to stay, Gattuso repeated what he said to Italian broadcaster RAI by saying it “wasn’t important”.
“It’s really painful. I would have given anything today, I would have given up years of my life, money, for us to achieve our goal,” said Gattuso.
A World Cup winner as a player in 2006, Gattuso was hired in June last year to replace the sacked Luciano Spalletti, with a contract which expires after the World Cup.
Gravina also said he would not step down, but his presence as the head of the FIGC would be discussed at a board meeting next week.
“We know that we’re in a profound crisis, a crisis that requires serious reflection and not only by the FIGC but also from politicians who have only pushed for resignations,” he said.
