At 3:45 Beijing time on March 25, the semi-finals of the European Zone play-offs of the World Preliminary Round, Trajkovski scored a 92-minute kill, and italy was eliminated by North Macedonia 1-0 at home.
The last time they lost to Sweden and this time to North Macedonia, World Cup four-time winner Italy was once again out of the World Cup play-offs after 2018, the first time in 92 years that the Men in Blues have missed two consecutive World Cups.
Last summer, Mancini led a "civilian Italy" team to win the European Championship, but three World Preliminaries brought him off the altar.
In the group stage of the World Preliminary Round, Italy had a great chance to qualify directly as the 1st in the group. With only 2 rounds left, Italy and Switzerland share the same points, but have 2 goals difference. In the penultimate round, Italy sat at home to face Switzerland, if they can win Switzerland with home advantages, then Italy basically qualified, as a result, Italy was forced to draw 1-1. In fact, it doesn't matter, in the last round, Italy still holds the initiative to qualify, although the two teams have the same points, but after all, Italy still has 2 goal difference advantages in hand. In the last round of life and death, Italy was forced to draw 0-0 by Northern Ireland, Switzerland was 4-0 to Bulgaria, and finally Switzerland overtook with a 2-point whistle, pressing Italy to qualify as the top of the group, while Italy, which was second in the group, could only play the play-offs.
Originally thought that in the play-offs, North Macedonia, with a population of only 2.08 million, Italy would easily pass. Unexpectedly, they were actually killed 1-0 by the other side in the case of shooting 32-4, and the gift package of North Macedonia instantly became a package of explosives.
One of them, the 27-year-old Bealdi, completed a game-high eight shots on goal, but failed to convert them into 1 goal. Most regrettably, in the 30th minute of the first half, he snatched the ball from the North Macedonian goalkeeper in the front of the penalty area, only to push slowly and positively in the face of the empty goal, giving the North Macedonian goalkeeper a chance to make up for it.
After wasting all kinds of opportunities, Italy suffered a fatal blow in stoppage time, Trajkovski in the 92nd minute of the world wave, and finally North Macedonia won 1-0 against Italy, will compete with Portugal for a World Cup ticket in the final.