Rome, March 25 (BNA) Italy has gone from winning the European Championship to failing to qualify for the World Cup in just eight months, according to the Associated Press.
In a swift and stunning fall from grace, the Azzurri lost to North Macedonia in a 1-0 loss that topped a dramatic night in European qualifiers on Thursday.
Italy will miss back-to-back World Cup finals for the first time in the national team’s history, having also failed to reach the tournament in 2018.
Only in July did Roberto Mancini and his players celebrate winning Euro 2020 at Wembley, and they were supposed to complete the Italian ball’s recovery story.
On Thursday, there were tears of a different kind and a general feeling of disbelief inside Palermo’s Renzo Barbera stadium.
“Just as last July was the best thing I’ve been through at a professional level, this is the biggest disappointment,” said Mancini. “Football is like that, sometimes unbelievable things happen.”
The winner for North Macedonia, who had not played in the World Cup since gaining independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, came in the second minute of stoppage time with Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low shot into the corner from outside the area.
It sparked intense scenes of jubilation among the North Macedonia players, who also beat Germany away from home nearly a year ago today.
Standing in the way in Tuesday’s final are Portugal, one of Europe’s leading footballers, who beat Turkey 3-1 to keep Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes alive in what is likely to be the World Cup finals.
insult