The story will be of another Italian apocalypse, yet another infamous occasion for a nation that has won four men’s World Cups but is starting to believe it may never go to another after missing out for the third time in a row.
After a North Macedonian bolt from the blue in 2022, and a stultifying two-legged defeat by Sweden five years before that they found a new way to come up short in 2026 – eliminated on penalties in their playoff final against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
