Italy will miss out on the World Cup for the second successive tournament after the Euro 2020 winners were stunned by a stoppage-time winner from North Macedonia in Thursday’s playoff semifinal in Palermo.
With Italy frustrated for 90 minutes by a heroic North Macedonia defensive performance, Aleksandar Trajkovski, a former Palermo player, struck the only goal of the game in the second minute of added time, inflicting Italy’s first defeat in 60 home World Cup qualifiers.
The victory means North Macedonia, ranked 60 places below Italy in the FIFA rankings, will now take on Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo in the playoff final on Tuesday with a place in Qatar on the line.
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After 30 minutes of dominating without seriously threatening the North Macedonian goal, Italy were gifted a glorious chance to take the lead. But after Stole Dimitrievski, out of his goal, cleared the ball straight to him on the edge of the box, Domenico Berardi could only produce a tame shot that allowed the North Macedonia goalkeeper to recover and make the save.
The chance sparked a wave of Italy pressure but, missing striker Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Scamacca, they lacked a clinical touch in front of goal. And some inspired North Macedonia defending thwarted the hosts with a series of blocks and clearances.
The same pattern continued into the second half. Berardi curled another effort wide and then had a shot blocked from six yards but there became an increasing air of desperation to the Italians’ attacking forays.
The best chance of the half fell to one of Italy’s substitutes, Lorenzo Pellegrini, but the Roma midfielder neither found the goal or a teammate with his wayward cross-shot.
The contest looked set for extra-time and potential penalties, until Trajkovski, who played in the same stadium for four years, dramatically broke the hearts of the European champions and the supporters who once cheered him on in Palermo.