PARIS: Italy have gone from winning the European Championship to failing to qualify for the World Cup in just eight months.

In a rapid and stunning fall from grace, the Azzurri were upset by North Macedonia in a 1-0 loss that headlined a night of drama in the European qualifying playoffs on Thursday.

Four-time World Cup winners Italy will miss out on back-to-back World Cups for the first time in the national team’s storied history, having also failed to get to the tournament in 2018.

It was only in July that Roberto Mancini and his players were celebrating winning Euro 2020 at Wembley Stadium, supposedly completing Italian football’s redemption story.

Portugal, Wales and Sweden reach play-off

On Thursday, there were tears of a different kind, and a general feeling of disbelief inside the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo.

“Just as last July was the best thing I experienced at a professional level, this is the greatest disappointment,” Mancini said. “Football is like that, sometimes incredible things happen.”

While the failure to qualify for the 2018 tournament in Russia when they lost in a play-off to Sweden was a traumatic experience for a nation that had previously been to every tournament since 1958, this failure is all the more remarkable given that they are the European champions.

That success for Mancini’s side came during a world record 37-game unbeaten run, but four draws in their last five qualifiers last autumn saw them finish second in their group to Switzerland, exposing them to the dangers of the play-offs again.

“It’s hard to explain, it’s such a huge disappointment,” captain Giorgio Chiellini said to RAI. “We’ve made mistakes since September and we’ve paid for them. We’re distraught.”

The winner for North Macedonia, who haven’t played at the World Cup since gaining independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, came in the second minute of stoppage time from Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low shot into the corner from outside the area.

It sparked wild scenes of jubilation among the North Macedonian players, who also beat Germany away almost a year ago to the day before appearing at their debut European Championship last year.

“We won the Italian way against the Italians, a goal from just two shots,” said their coach, Blagoja Milevski.

Standing in their way in Tuesday’s playoff final will be another of Europe’s leading football nations, Portugal, who beat Turkey 3-1 to keep alive Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of appearing in what is likely to be his final World Cup.

PENALTY MISS COSTS TURKEY

Euro 2016 winners Portugal­defeated Turkey at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto, albeit only after Burak Yilmaz missed a crucial late penalty for the visitors.

The home side were cruising thanks to first-half goals by Brazilian-born midfielder Otavio and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota.

But Turkey’s veteran skipper Yilmaz pulled a goal back in the 65th minute, setting up a tense finish.

Turkey were then awarded a penaltywith five minutes remaining when a foul on Enes Unal was detected following a VAR review, but Yilmaz put the spot-kick over the bar, meaning the Portuguese were able to avoid another late implosion like in November when they let in a 90th-minute goal against Serbia to drop into the playoffs.

Portugal went on to score again in stoppage time, through substitute Matheus Nunes.

Turkey have not appeared at the World Cup since coming third in Japan and South Korea in 2002.

Portugal have not missed out on the tournament since 1998 and, at 37, Ronaldo is hoping to reach a 10th straight major tournament.

BALE BRILLIANCE

Ronaldo’s former team-mate at Real Madrid, Gareth Bale, could also be at the World Cup after inspiring Wales to a 2-1 win over Austria and leaving his country one victory away from a first appearance at the tournament since 1958.

Bale has only played five times for Real this season, and just twice since August, but the Wales captain started at the Cardiff City Stadium and opened the scoring from a sensational free kick into the top corner in the 25th.

He then struck again, with a superb hit across goalkeeper Heinz Lindner into the far corner, to double the lead six minutes after half-time.

Wales then held on after Austria reduced the deficit in the 64th minute when Marcel Sabitzer’s shot deflected in off Ben Davies.

“I’ll run myself into the ground for this country, we all did tonight,” Bale, who came off right at the end with cramp, told Sky Sports.

Wales will host either Scotland or Ukraine in the playoff final in June. Their semi-final match was postponed until that month as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

IBRAHIMOVIC’S DREAM ALIVE

Robin Quaison kept alive Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s hopes of playing in another World Cup for Sweden.

With the suspended Ibrahimovic watching on, Quaison came off the bench and scored in the 110th minute after a one-two with Alexander Isak as Sweden beat the Czech Republic 1-0 after extra time to advance to the final in the other qualifying bracket.

Quarter-finalists in 2018, Sweden will travel to play Poland on Tuesday for a spot in the tournament in Qatar.

Poland received a bye to the playoff final after their scheduled opponents Russia were thrown out of qualifying following the war in Ukraine.

Scotland and Poland drew 1-1 in a friendly in Glasgow, with Kieran Tierney giving the home side the lead only for Krzysztof Piatek to level with a stoppage-time penalty.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2022