In a focus battle in the semi-finals of the World Cup European Qualifier Play-offs at the end of the early morning of March 25, Beijing time, the European Championship champion Italian men's football team broke out of the big cold. They lost 1-0 at home to North Macedonia, ranked 67th in the world. The Italian men's team has missed the World Cup for two consecutive years, while North Macedonia will compete with Portugal for a ticket to the World Cup final.
As the European Championship winner and The Sixth Place in the World Cup, Italy has an absolute advantage in strength, coupled with the home battle, not many people before the game will think that Italy can not even pass the North Macedonia level. In the game, Italy did indeed play north Macedonia. The data after the match showed that Italy had a total of 32 shots on goal, of which forward Berardi shot 8 of them, but Sassuolo's shooter squandered them one by one.
In the 29th minute in particular, Berardi had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to score. At that time, North Macedonia goalkeeper Dimitrovsky made a mistake in the penalty area, and Berardi faced the empty goal after breaking the ball, and he only needed to use the strength to push the far corner with his left foot to help Italy lead. But bizarrely, Berardi's shot was weak and angled too well, and the ball was easily confiscated by Dimitrovsky, who returned to the goal.
In addition to this empty goal, Berardi also had two consecutive scoring opportunities in the 57th and 62nd minutes, but he failed to grasp them. Seeing that Berardi squandered such a good opportunity, his teammates were angry and complained. After the final whistle, Berardi covered his face and knelt down for a long time, perhaps ashamed of his clumsy performance.
According to post-match statistics, Berardi shot 2 times on target, 2 shots were deflected, 1 scoring opportunity was missed, and 24 ball losses were quite outrageous for a shooter. Previously, AC Milan had been interested in the 27-year-old Italy international to strengthen the front. But after seeing his poor performance in the World Cup shatter Italy's Dream of the World Cup, perhaps the Rossoneri should really reconsider whether the "Green Babe" is trustworthy in key matches.