Why is Italy absent from the World Cup? Their main striker is Retegui, naturalized from Argentina, playing in Saudi Arabia.

It appears destined by fate. Italy's main striker Retegui started as the primary forward in the match where Italy lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a penalty shootout, causing Italy to miss the World Cup for three consecutive editions. Retegui will turn 27 this month. Originally a player based in Argentina, he chose to represent Italy. Now, Argentina, as the defending World Cup champion, has already secured its ticket for the 2026 USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup. Argentina's center forward, who leads the scoring charts in Ligue 1, Panichelli, is seriously injured and will miss the World Cup. Meanwhile, Retegui's chosen Italy has achieved a hat-trick of World Cup absences.

In this World Cup qualifying campaign, Retegui recorded 5 goals and 4 assists in 10 matches. Due to the presence of many weaker teams in the European group stage, these contribution statistics don't signify much, as Italy was defeated by Norway with a 3-goal margin both at home and away in the European group stage qualifiers. Italy qualified for the playoffs as the group runner-up, passed Northern Ireland, but still fell before Bosnia and Herzegovina. It wasn't because Bosnia and Herzegovina played exceptionally well, but because Italy performed poorly enough.

Retegui came from Boca Juniors' youth academy. In the summer transfer window of 2023, he moved to Serie A by joining Genoa for a transfer fee of 15.25 million euros and also chose to represent Italy, as he lacked confidence in being selected for the Argentine national team. Retegui performed excellently in Serie A: in the 2023-24 season, he made 29 Serie A appearances for Genoa, contributing 7 goals and 2 assists; in the summer window of 2024, he transferred to Atalanta for 20.9 million euros, scoring 25 goals and providing 8 assists in 36 Serie A matches in the 2024-25 season, winning the Golden Boot; in the summer window of 2025, Atalanta immediately sold Retegui to Saudi Pro League club Al-Hubail Qadisiyah for 68.25 million euros, thus embarking on a lucrative career—a win-win for both the club and the player.

Retegui, nearly 27 years old, stands 1.86 meters tall, a right-footed center forward, with a Transfermarkt valuation of 35 million euros. This season so far, he has played 28 matches across all competitions for Al-Hubail Qadisiyah, contributing 18 goals and 1 assist; among these, 15 goals in 25 Saudi Pro League appearances, ranking joint fifth in the scoring charts. For Italy, he has 11 goals and 5 assists in 27 matches.

Looking back, Italy's forward line featured Vieri and Totti as mainstays, with Del Piero and Inzaghi as substitutes. Now, they have to naturalize Argentine forward Reteghi, and even rely on a forward playing in Asia as their main striker. Perhaps just hearing the names of the stars reveals the reasons for the decline of Italian football!