This past summer, it seemed like Italy was back as a global soccer power with the embarrassment of missing the 2018 World Cup far in the rearview mirror. The Azzurri won European championship in penalties against England at Euro 2020 (played in 2021). They shot up to No. 4 on the FIFA rankings.
And despite missing out on automatic qualification to the 2022 World Cup, Italy had a relatively favorable play-off path with North Macedonia awaiting in the semifinals. Well, Italy learned a hard lesson on Thursday about overlooking opponents because North Macedonia just made Italy miss its second straight World Cup.
With the score tied at 0-0 in the 92nd minute, North Macedonia’s goal kick deflected perfectly to Aleksandar Trajkovski who scored from distance.
