Italy misses 2nd straight World Cup in rapid fall from grace

Rome, TGO: Italy has gone from winning the European Championship to failing to qualify for the World Cup in just eight months, reports AP.

In a rapid and stunning fall from grace, the Azzurri were upset by North Macedonia in a 1-0 loss that headlined a night of drama in the European qualifying playoffs on Thursday. Italy will miss out on back-to-back World Cups for the first time in the national team’s storied history, having also failed to get to the tournament in 2018.

It was only in July that Roberto Mancini and his players were celebrating winning Euro 2020 at Wembley Stadium, supposedly completing Italian soccer’s redemption story. On Thursday, there were tears of a different kind, and a general feeling of disbelief inside the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo.

“Just as last July was the best thing I experienced at a professional level, this is the greatest disappointment,” Mancini said. “Soccer is like that, sometimes incredible things happen.” The winner for North Macedonia, which hasn’t played at the World Cup since gaining independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, came in the second minute of stoppage time from Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low shot into the corner from outside the area.

It sparked wild scenes of jubilation among the North Macedonian players, who also beat Germany away almost a year ago to the day. Standing in their way in Tuesday’s playoff final will be another of Europe’s leading soccer nations, Portugal, which beat Turkey 3-1 to keep alive Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of appearing in what is likely to be his final World Cup.