Arrivederci Italy: Azzurri lose World Cup playoff to Sweden

Players from both teams slumped to the ground, the Swedes in exhausted ecstasy, the Italians in losers' agony.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is hugged by teammate Leonardo Bonucci after their team was eliminated in the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

On a starry night in Milan, four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades. Sweden advanced for the first time since 2006.

Despite three quarters of possession, Italy was stymied by a goalless draw in the second leg of their playoff on Monday and Sweden prevailed 1-0 on aggregate.

"It's a black moment for our game," Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi said. "Unfortunately there will be a lot of time to analyze it. The only thing I can say is that we showed few ideas and not much in the way of tactics.

Italy's Ciro Immobile, foreground, and Italy's Andrea Belotti, seated left, react to their team's elimination in the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The Sweden players ran over to celebrate with the traveling fans, a sea of joyful yellow at San Siro. The Italians looked on in shock and disbelief or put their head in their hands as though it were too painful to watch.

Many of them were in tears, especially captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who played what he said was his last international after 20 years between the posts for the Azzurri.

Sweden coach Janne Andersson celebrates with Andreas Granqvist and Marcus Berg, right, at the end of the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. Four-time champion Italy has failed to qualify for World Cup; Sweden advances with 1-0 aggregate win in playoff. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

"We all need to look within and find a way to bounce back," defender Giorgio Chiellini said. "We need to get back to the level we deserve to be at."

Italy had failed to qualify for the World Cup just once before, reaching 14 straight since falling short in 1958. The Azzurri did not enter the first World Cup in 1930.

The last major competitions Italy failed to qualify for were the 1984 and 1992 European Championships.

Italy's Leonardo Bonucci reacts during the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

It could have been worse for Italy, as Sweden was denied what looked like two clear-cut penalties for handballs, first by Matteo Darmian and then Andrea Barzagli.

Italy had a penalty appeal of its own waved off by Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz when Marco Parolo was tripped from behind by Ludwig Augsustinsson.

But the Azzurri struggled to carve out clear chances, and only one of their six shots on target really tested goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

Sweden's players celebrate at the end of the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. The match ended in a 0-0 draw and Sweden earns a bench to the World Cup. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

It would be easy to lay the blame squarely on Gian Piero Ventura. The Italy coach will naturally take the lion's share, but the Azzurri's problems run much deeper.

"I want to apologize to the Italian people for the result," Ventura said. "Not for the commitment, and the desire and everything else but for the result."

The rot started long before Ventura took charge.

Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen, left, Italy's Andrea Belotti, center, and Sweden's Ludwig Augustinsson watch as the ball goes over the net during the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

After winning the World Cup in 2006 for a fourth time, Italy went out at the group stage of the next two editions. It fared somewhat better at the European Championship, reaching the final in 2012 and quarterfinal elimination in 2008 and 2016.

However, Antonio Conte's Italy side overachieved in France last year, when it surprisingly beat Spain in the round of 16 before losing on penalties to world champion Germany.

For a long time, Italy has lacked a creative force, successors to Andrea Pirlo and Francesco Totti of the 2006 side who could change a match with one moment of magic.

Mario Balotelli was the star of Euro 2012 but fell out of favor after Italy's woeful showing at the last World Cup.

Sweden's Emil Forsberg complains to Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz of Spain during the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The lack of stars in the Italy team is reflected in the Italian league.

Juventus has been a force to be reckoned with in recent years in Europe, where it has reached two out of the past three Champions League finals. But while its defense forms the backbone of the Italy team, its midfield and attack are made up mainly of foreign players.

The Brazilian-born Jorginho was finally handed his competitive debut by Ventura, and the midfielder impressed with some deft passing. Jorginho created Italy's best opportunities with two through balls for Ciro Immobile, who hit the netting from a tight angle from one. Immbobile beat Olsen with another but Andreas Granqvist got back for a decisive goal-line clearance.

Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura looks at the ground during the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Alessandro Florenzi was also back following a year out after twice tearing a knee ligament, and the midfielder forced Olsen into his only real save, while a cross of his was also deflected onto the crossbar in the second half.

Meanwhile, the highly rated Lorenzo Insigne surprisingly played only 15 minutes of the playoff, and out of position.

Those three players are 26 or under and, along with forwards Immobile and Andrea Belotti, could form the spine of a rejuvenated Italy side for several years to come.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon reaches for the ball during the World Cup qualifying play-off second leg soccer match between Italy and Sweden, at the Milan San Siro stadium, Italy, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italy will have to go forward without several of its most experienced players. De Rossi also announced he was retiring after the playoff, as did defender Andrea Barzagli.

Remarkably, the 0-0 result was the sixth straight in the playoffs, since Sweden's ultimately decisive goal at home against Italy on Friday.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government scored a victory Tuesday with the Senate approving a law allowing anti-abortion groups access to women considering ending their pregnancies. The development revives tensions around the issue of abortion in Italy, 46 years after it was legalized in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

The Senate, where the government has a majority, voted 95-68, giving final approval to legislation tied to European Union COVID-19 recovery funds that included an amendment sponsored by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.

The law, already passed by the lower Chamber of Deputies, allows regions to permit groups “with a qualified experience supporting motherhood” to have access to public support centers where women who are considering abortions go to receive counseling.

For the right, the amendment merely fulfills the original intent of the 1978 law legalizing abortion, known as Law 194, which includes provisions to prevent the procedure and support motherhood.

For the left-wing opposition, it chips away at abortion rights that opponents had warned would follow Meloni’s 2022 election.

“The government should realize that they keep saying they absolutely do not want to boycott or touch Law 194, but the truth is that the right-wing opposes women’s reproductive autonomy, fears women’s choices regarding motherhood, sexuality, and abortion,” Cecilia D’Elia, a Democratic Party senator, said at a protest this week against the legislation.

Under the 1978 law, Italy allows abortion on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, or later if a woman’s health or life is in danger. It provides for publicly funded counseling centers to advise pregnant women of their rights and services offered if they want to terminate the pregnancies.

But easy access to abortion isn't always guaranteed. The law allows health care personnel to register as conscientious objectors and refuse to perform abortions, and many have — meaning women sometimes have to travel far to have the procedure.

Meloni, who campaigned on a slogan of “God, fatherland and family,” has insisted she won’t roll back the 1978 law and merely wants to implement it fully. But she has also prioritized encouraging women to have babies to reverse Italy’s demographic crisis.

Italy’s birthrate, already one of the lowest in the world, has been falling steadily for about 15 years and reached a record low last year with 379,000 babies born. Meloni’s conservative forces, backed strongly by the Vatican, have mounted a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, a rate that demographers say is necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing under the weight of Italy's aging population.

Meloni has called the left-wing opposition to the proposed amendment “fake news,” recalling that Law 194 provides for measures to prevent abortions, which would include counselling pregnant women about alternatives. The amendment specifically allows anti-abortion groups, or groups "supporting motherhood," to be among the volunteer groups that can work in the counseling centers.

“I think we have to guarantee a free choice,” Meloni said recently. “And to guarantee a free choice you have to have all information and opportunities available. And that’s what the Law 194 provides.”

The new tensions over abortion in Italy come against the backdrop of developments elsewhere in Europe going somewhat in the opposite direction. France marked International Women's Day by inscribing the guaranteed right to abortion into its constitution. Last year, overwhelmingly Catholic Malta voted to ease the strictest abortion laws in the EU. Polish lawmakers moved forward with proposals to lift a near-total ban on abortion enacted by the country's previous right-wing government.

At the same time, Italy's left fears the country might go the way of the U.S., where states are restricting access after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down landmark legislation that had guaranteed access to abortion nationwide.

Elly Schlein, head of Italy's opposition Democratic Party, told a conference on women on Tuesday that the country needs to establish an obligatory percentage of doctors willing to perform abortions in public hospitals, “otherwise these rights remain on paper only.”

FILE - People stage a protest on 'International Safe Abortion Day' to ask for more guarantees on the enforcement of the abortion law that they claim is seriously endangered by the high rate of doctors' conscientious objection in the country, in Rome, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government wants to allow anti-abortion groups access to women considering interrupting their pregnancies, making abortion a flashpoint argument in Italy 46 years after it was legalized in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. The Senate on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, was voting on procedural legislation tied to EU COVID-19 recovery funds that includes an amendment sponsored by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)