Italian football legend Christian Vieri has said that a country with his pedigree should always qualify for the World Cup, after enduring yet another disappointment last month when the Azzurri missed out on their third consecutive finals.

Following their loss on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a European play-off, Italy have now failed to qualify for the three consecutive World Cups in Russia, Qatar and the coming one in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

They had also failed to progress beyond the group stages in the last two tournaments for which they qualified, in South Africa and Brazil.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post after the official launch of the Hong Kong Football Festival on Tuesday, Vieri said it was time for action instead of empty talk to fix the most popular sport in his country.

“It’s a very big miss for our country because we’re one of the biggest countries in the world, football-wise, and we’ve won four World Cups,” the Inter Milan legend said. “But after missing three World Cups, we have to ask ourselves some questions. We have to get better.

“It’s not a one-day thing; it’s going to take a lot of years. I think that Italy always have to go to the World Cup because it’s a very big nation.