The Canadian men’s national soccer team did a little bit of online kicking of a downed rival this week, taking a potshot at Italy and its fans after the Azzurri came up short in qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On Tuesday, Italy lost in a penalty shootout against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final round of a UEFA qualification playoff, putting the Balkan nation into this summer’s tournament and leaving the Italians on the outside looking in.
While there had been several other qualifiers taking place on Tuesday, the matchup between the Azzurri and the Dragons had increased importance for Canada, with the winning team being placed in Group B and made the opponent for the co-host’s opening game of the World Cup in Toronto.
A day after the match, the Canadian national team did some A+ trolling of Italian fans – of which there are many in the GTA – by sharing a meme on social media.
What did the Canadian team post?
The team’s official account posted a variation of a popular meme featuring Homer Simpson disappearing into bushes before emerging in a different outfit.
In the version shared Wednesday online, Homer is decked out in Italian soccer gear and sporting dark hair and a five o’clock shadow when he slinks back into the shrubbery.
When he returns, he is sporting a new red Team Canada jersey and hat.
“Ora è il momento del Canada,” the team posted in Italian on X, which translates to “Now is Canada’s moment.”
The post also included a link to purchase Team Canada jerseys on their website’s official store.
The team credited the image to No Context CanMNT, a social media meme account that specializes in humorous Canadian soccer content.
Italian legend Gennaro Gattuso quits as coach
After the heartbreaking loss and failure to qualify for the tournament, Italian soccer has seen a major shakeup at the executive level and now on the sidelines.
Earlier this week, both Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina and head of delegation Gianluigi Buffon — a legendary Italian goalkeeper — stepped down from their posts.
On Friday, head coach Gennaro Gattuso followed suit, taking responsibility for the team’s failure.
The former Azzurri defensive midfielder had been given a contract until the end of this summer’s World Cup, with an automatic renewal until 2028 if Italy had clinched a spot in the tournament.
Italy’s World Cup history
With Italy’s failure to qualify for the expanded 2026 World Cup — the first edition of the quadrennial tournament to feature 48 teams — the Azzurri has now missed out on the past three tournaments.
Despite Italy being a four-time World Cup champion, winning as recently as 2006 in Germany, it hasn’t qualified for the tournament since 2014 in Brazil and was eliminated in the group stages of the two tournaments before that, winning just one total game.
Tuesday’s defeat only adds to that misery.
In fact, the Italians most recent appearance was most notable for the actions of one of their opponents. During a group stage match against Uruguay, Italian centre back Giorgio Chiellini was bitten on the shoulder by Luis Suarez. The striker went unpunished for his actions during the game, but later received a four-month ban from football.
While Italy is ranked No. 12 in the world among men’s national teams, it finished six points behind Norway in its qualifying group to take second place and a spot in the playoffs.
When is the Canada-Bosnia and Herzegovina match?
With the matchup now set, Canada will face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, June 12, at Toronto Stadium — the renamed and temporarily expanded venue known as BMO Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Canada then shifts its games to BC Place in Vancouver, where it will play Qatar on Thursday, June 18 and then Switzerland on Wednesday, June 24.
After the opener, Bosnia and Herzegovina will then play against Switzerland in Los Angeles on June 18 before finishing up its group stage slate on June 24 against Qatar in Seattle.