Thunderbolt: Italy, despite its coronation at the Euro and its four stars of world champion on the jersey, will not go to Qatar this fall, eliminated from the World Cup by the North Macedonia team (0- 1) after a surprising play-off match, Thursday March 24 in Palermo.
Squadra Azzura, unable to score despite an avalanche of chances (thirty-two shots), was crucified in added time by Macedonian striker Aleksandar Trajkovski (90+2), a former player from… Palermo.
Macedonia in the play-off final against Portugal
Macedonia, generally harmless for 90 minutes, won the right to go to the play-off final in Portugal to try a new feat: go for the first time in its history at the World Cup.
Very far from its lightness in the summer of 2021, when it seduced Europe and triumphed over England at Wembley, Roberto Mancini’s Nazionale stumbled for 95 minutes on the courageous Macedonian team. Here she is back four years, at the bottom of the wave where the defeat had left her, in the round-trip play-offs, against Sweden (0-1, 0-0), deprived of the World Cup in 2018 for the first times for sixty years.
In an attempt to ease the pressure, Italy had headed south, in search of the warmth of Sicily and the public of Palermo, and had obtained an exemption to be able to play in front of a full stadium (33,000 spectators), a first in the country since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago. But it was ultimately the small colony of a few hundred fans from North Macedonia who celebrated at the final whistle, up there in the stands.
“Little Arm”
There was in these Azzurri under pressure, caught up by their ghosts of 2017, a lot of desire but also too much frenzy. They forced too many shots, like Marco Verratti above (25and) imitated by Niolo Barella next door (28and), when they did not come up against the compact Macedonian defense like Ciro Immobile (20and38and) or on the goalkeeper like Lorenzo Insigne (33and). The biggest Italian chance of the first period was for Domenico Berardi, with his legs on the right side, but who did not press his shot enough in front of the empty goal, after a completely missed recovery from goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski (29and).
Too happy to see half-time arrive on this 0-0, Macedonia, generally harmless, even gradually gained confidence: Alessandro Florenzi had to come back at full speed on Darko Churlinov who was spinning on goal (39and) and Gianluigi Donnarumma folded well on the first Macedonian strike of the match, signed Aleksandar Trajkovski (45and).
As caught up by this “little arm” that Chiellini feared the day before, Italy tried again by all means after the break, with an active Verratti in the maneuver but such a clumsy Berardi: he framed without danger (53and) then just missed the target (54and), shot over in good position (58and) then was blocked five yards from the line (63and). When it doesn’t want…
The substitutes – Giacomo Raspadori entered in place of a transparent Badge, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Joao Pedro – did no better, still seeing a foot repel their strike. And as Roberto Mancini threw Chiellini into the bath for the final push, it was North Macedonia who struck. Donnarumma couldn’t do anything this time. The PSG goalkeeper will still have to wait to discover the pleasure of playing a World Cup match.
