The European champions are officially out of the World Cup. Italy was stunned by North Macedonia 1-0 in their World Cup qualifying match, and will now miss the tournament for the second consecutive event.
The Italian side outshot the Macedonians 32-4, but it was all for naught as the score remained 0-0 through 90 minutes of play. Then, only 2 minutes into added time, Aleksander Trajkovski scored the game’s only goal to shock the home crowd.
Ironically, Trajkovski played for Palermo for four years before scoring the deciding goal for the visiting side in his former stadium to break the hearts of Italian fans across the globe. The loss is Italy’s first defeat in their last 60 World Cup qualifying matches played at home.
Italian coach Roberto Mancini didn’t try to hide his disappointment following the match: “I feel that just as last July was the best thing I experienced at a professional level, this is the greatest disappointment,” he said “Soccer is like that, sometimes incredible things happen.”
Coming into the match, North Macedonia was ranked 67th in the FIFA world rankings behind the likes of Albania, Jamaica, and Congo DR. Meanwhile, the Italian side had just finished winning the Euro 2020 championships last summer, and were ranked 6th in the world.
Despite being heavily outplayed for most of the match, the North Macedonian side capitalized on their one true scoring opportunity, leaving fans in disbelief. As a result, they now move on to the playoff final against Cristiano Ronaldo’s 8th ranked Portugal squad. The winner of Tuesday’s showdown will book a trip to Qatar 2022.
Prior to their recent run of disappointment on the world stage, Italy had qualified for every World Cup since 1958. Now they’ll be on the outside looking in, with more questions than answers regarding the future of the Italian national team roster, and coaching staff.
North Macedonia takes on Portugal Tuesday March 29th with a trip to the World Cup on the line.