"We played it all in a one-off match, it's an absurd system," Italy centre-back Leonardo Bonucci told the Mirror after his national side was defeated by North Macedonia and missed out on the World Cup.
"Unfortunately, that's the way it went, but it's a crazy decision. You have to play a single game in which anything can happen as we have seen.
"There are teams that qualified after losing four or five games, we are at home after losing only one in the 92nd minute. It is truly madness.
"Clearly the regulation is not an alibi or an excuse, we certainly had to do better. But from here we have to take inspiration to find the way back to where we were.
"There were many reflections. Certainly, after Euro 2020, we got a bit lost. This compromised our path to the World Cup."
Italy can't claim that they were let down by just one game, though: they drew four out of the last five games, including two games against Switzerland where Jorginho missed penalty kicks.
After losing the play-off semi-final to North Macedonia, Italy have failed to qualify for two consecutive World Cups - despite winning the European Championship in between.
