Italy entered this Thursday with a 33 percent chance of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to FiveThirtyEight’s SPI. Moments ago, the national club’s World Cup aspirations were crushed.
In the 92nd minute of this Thursday’s match between Italy and North Macedonia, Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a goal to give his club the lead. Once the final whistle was blown, Italy was officially eliminated from World Cup contention.
North Macedonia was ranked at the bottom of Path C when it came to World Cup qualifiers, and yet, it managed to keep Italy scoreless.
Even though Italy dominated possession (66 percent) and had more shots (32 to 5), it found itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Here’s the goal from Trajkovski that gave North Macedonia the lead:
NORTH MACEDONIA!!! ONE OF THE GREAT UPSETS OF ALL TIME 🤯
AS IT STANDS, ITALY ARE OUT OF THE WORLD CUP! pic.twitter.com/DBRBcUhZC5
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 24, 2022
As you’d expect, the soccer world is stunned that Italy will not qualify for this year’s World Cup.
Here are some reactions to North Macedonia’s upset win:
lmao what a sport pic.twitter.com/LnZ9h0SUOm
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) March 24, 2022
NORTH MACEDONIA IN THE 92ND MINUTE! 🇲🇰
ITALY AREN’T GOING TO THE 2022 WORLD CUP 🤯 pic.twitter.com/S0N7rsI0R4
— GOAL (@goal) March 24, 2022
NORTH MACEDONIA GETS ONE IN THE 93RD MINUTE TO TAKE THE LEAD OVER ITALY pic.twitter.com/8YeApWQWW2
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 24, 2022
After missing on Russia 2018, Italy are out of the World Cup 2022. What an incredible disaster. 🇮🇹 #Italy
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 24, 2022
ITALY WILL NOT BE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP!
The European Champions will not be at Qatar 2022. 🤯🤯🇮🇹
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) March 24, 2022
With the loss this Thursday, Italy will miss the World Cup for the second time in a row.
North Macedonia, meanwhile, will face Portugal next Tuesday.
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