Italy missed out on a place at the Mundiale for the second edition running after they finished runners up to Switzerland in their qualifying group only to lose 1-0 to minnows North Macedonia when they dropped to the play-offs.
It was a chastening fall from grace for Roberto Mancini's side who only last summer beat England on penalties to win EURO 2020 at Wembley.
Italy's woes were deepened at the setting of their European triumph on Wednesday when they lost 3-0 to Argentina in a clash between the champions of Europe and South America.
Former Italy striker Baggio reckons the Azzurris are suffering the after effects of missing out on a place in Qatar.
"The biggest shame is that Italy didn't go straight to Qatar having won the European Championship," Italy legend Baggio said on Thursday, as quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"It is scandalous, it seems crazy to me. Will these guys have earned a reward or not? If I had been in their place I don't really know how I would have reacted...
"It's the worst thing to accept, because in a 90-minute match anything can happen, one action goes wrong and you stay at home?"
“I think Italy suffered psychological after-effects from the World Cup elimination. You can see it’s a psychological issue,” argued Baggio.
“We saw last night, you just cannot compare the calm and confidence of the Argentina players to our current state of mind.
“Roberto Mancini did something extraordinary, he must be respected and allowed to continue working the way he has done. We have young talents who are not given room to play in Serie A and that is a well-known problem.”
