ROME: Four-time World Cup winners Italy will miss out on a second consecutive FIFA World Cup, after the Azzurri suffered a shocking 1-0 home loss to North Macedonia in the 2022 World Cup playoffs on Thursday.
Italy took the initiative early in the game and created many opportunities, tallying 32 shots on goal but North Macedonia managed to win despite only four attempts on goal.
North Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski made a mistake in passing to teammates in the 30th minute, but Domenico Berardi’s shot failed to threaten the goal. Italy were still unable to break the deadlock against North Macedonia in the second half and Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a long-range effort in stoppage time to seal the unthinkable win for North Macedonia. Italy will not play at a FIFA World Cup finals for the second consecutive occasion after the Azzurri also failed to qualify for Russia 2018. In another high-profile match between Portugal and Turkey, Otavio scored one and assisted another to give Portugal a 2-0 lead in the first half.
After Turkey pulled one back through Burak Yilmaz in the second half, Matheus Nunes scored in stoppage time to make the final score 3-1 to Portugal. Portugal will now face North Macedonia on March 29 for a spot in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In other playoffs, Wales beat Austria 2-1 through a brace from Gareth Bale, and Robin Quaison scored an extra-time winner as Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 1-0.