This Thursday evening, Italy will be playing for its place at the World Cup. On the pitch in Bergamo, the Italians will host Northern Ireland in a bid to secure a ticket to the playoff final for a spot at the World Cup.
This is something the Italians have had very little success with in recent editions, having not played in a World Cup since 2014.
12 years can feel like a long time. To give you an idea, the last time Italy played in a World Cup…
TikTok didn’t exist.
Lamine Yamal was six years old.
The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie was Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Star Wars had only six films.
Leo Messi had only four Ballons d’Or.
PSG had only four French league titles. The most successful club in the top flight was still Saint-Étienne.
VAR didn’t exist.
Zinédine Zidane had never coached a professional team.
Gareth Bale was the most expensive player on the planet with his €100M transfer. Today, he ranks 18th.
James Milner had just played his 15th Premier League season.
Arsène Wenger was still Arsenal manager and Pep Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich.
No one knew the word "remontada."
The PlayStation 4 had been out for a year and Fortnite didn’t exist.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.
