Italy will miss the World Cup for the second time in a row after the Euro 2020 winners were stunned by stoppage time winner North Macedonia in Thursday’s play-off semi-finals in Palermo.
As Italy were frustrated for 90 minutes by North Macedonia’s heroic defensive performance, Alexander Trajkovski, a former Palermo player, scored the only goal of the game in the second minute of stoppage time, inflicting Italy’s first defeat in 60 World Cup home qualifiers.
The victory means that North Macedonia, 60 places behind Italy in the FIFA rankings, will now face Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo in the play-off final on Tuesday, with a seat in Qatar at stake.
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“This is a huge disappointment,” Jorginho told Rai Sport. “It hurts, it hurts a lot.
“We have always created and dominated matches, but we were not able to finish the teams. It’s not anyone’s fault, but that’s the reality.”
“I don’t know why we couldn’t do it, I’m in it too and it hurts to think about it.”
Italy landed an unbelievable 32 shots on goal to North Macedonia’s four, but failed to achieve a breakthrough and were once again left to speculate about what could have been. Missed opportunities eventually became the history of the Azzurri campaign, with Roberto Mancini’s team only reaching the play-offs after Jorginho missed a penalty against Switzerland last year, which would have given them the win and automatic qualification.
After 30 minutes of dominance without a serious threat to the North Macedonia goal, Italy got a great chance to take the lead. But after Stole Dimitrievski cleared the ball out of his own net on the edge of the penalty area, Domenico Berardi could only land a weak shot that allowed the North Macedonia goalkeeper to recover and make a save.
This chance caused a wave of pressure from the Italians, but due to the absence of striker Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Scamacchi, they lacked an accurate shot in front of the goal. And some enthusiastic North Macedonia defenders thwarted the hosts with a series of blocks and clearances.
The same pattern continued in the second half. Berardi made another try and then the shot was blocked from six yards, but desperation grew in the attacking raids of the Italians.
Italian substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini had the best moment of the half, but the Roma midfielder found neither goal nor partner with his wayward cross-shot.
The competition looked like waiting for extra time and potential penalties until Trajkovski, who played in the same stadium for four years, broke the hearts of the European champions and the fans who had once cheered him on in Palermo.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.