Italy again missed the World Cup final after losing 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in the semi-final of the playoffs, when the last blow of Oleksandr Trajkovskiy brought the famous victory to the guests.
Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup four years ago, missing out for the first time since 1958, but the European champions have dominated since the start in Palermo. After the break, the hosts became more desperate to find a winner, however, as the odds kept coming and going before Trajkovski shot the stunning winner in stoppage time, sparking a wild celebration in North Macedonia.
Roberto Mancini’s Italian team scored 32 goals in the match, but somehow failed: on Tuesday, North Macedonia will play Portugal in the play-off final for a place in Qatar.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” Italy midfielder Jorginho said. “It hurts, it hurts a lot. We have always created and dominated the matches, but we were not able to finish the teams. This is not the fault of anyone in particular, but such is the reality.
“I don’t know why we couldn’t do it, I’m in it too and it hurts to think about it.”
Without the veteran bringing Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini together through injury, Italy’s impromptu defense was of little concern in the first half as all the action took place at the other end.
Joao Pedro’s reaction to Italy’s last chance to equalize. Photo: Antonio Calanni/APDomenico Berardi was the best of debuts, receiving the ball after the North Macedonia goalkeeper stole an inappropriate pass from Dimitrievski, but his shot was hand-held and Dimitrievski returned to make the save. Ciro Immobile also missed a great chance for Italy in the first half, hitting the bar from a good position.
Berardi again profligated after the break, shooting when he should have hit the target and with his only significant attack of the match, North Macedonia took their chance. Italy didn’t look too dangerous, but Trajkovski, who plays in Saudi Arabia for Al-Fayh, inscribed his name in North Macedonia’s football folklore with a shot that crept into the post and stunned local fans.
The Fiver: Sign up and receive our daily football email.
Portugal advanced to the final with a 3-1 win Turkeyfor which Burak Yılmaz converted a penalty five minutes before the end of normal time, which would equalize the scores of the parties.
At Porto’s Dragão Stadium, packed to capacity, Portugal dominated the game from the start and took a 2-0 lead in the first half after Otavio scored one and set up another for Diogo Jota before half-time. But Fernando Santos’ team was stopped by Yılmaz’s goal in the 65th minute, which stumped the Portuguese fans when Turkey began to threaten.
José Fonte then fouled Enes Unal in the penalty area in the 85th minute to convert a penalty awarded by VAR, but Yılmaz shot high over the bar. Substitute Portuguese Mateus Nunez eased the pressure on the hosts in stoppage time, scoring the third goal in a counterattack.
That Sweden substitute Robin Quaison struck in the second half of extra time to secure a 1-0 victory over Czech Republic and staged a clash on the outskirts of Poland.
The Czechs had an early goal ruled out by a foul and the Swedes had the lion’s share of possession for most of the playoff semi-finals, but both sides struggled to break each other in a game full of tough tackles and wayward passes.
Substitute Matthias Svanberg came closest to the Swedes in regular time, but his header from Emil Forsberg’s corner went straight to the guests’ goalkeeper Thomas Vaclik.
The game ended scoreless in the 90th minute and seemed to be heading for a penalty shoot-out as Quison swam through the center of the defense and then exchanged passes with Alexander Isak and scored in cold blood to bring his team one step closer to Qatar.