World laughing at Italy’s utter humiliation

Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low drive in the second minute of stoppage time stunned the European champions in Palermo and set up a qualifying final with Portugal in Porto on Wednesday for a chance to be in Qatar in November.Watch the world’s best footballers every week with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. LIVE coverage from LaLiga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Carabao Cup, EFL & SPFL. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >Roberto Mancini’s side were loudly booed off after a defeat which means Italy will have to wait until at least 2026 to see its national team at a World Cup.By then it will have been 12 years since the Azzurri’s last participation in the world’s biggest football tournament after they failed to qualify for the 2018 edition, also crashing out in the play-offs on that occasion.Italy beat England to win last year’s European Championships but there’s no place for them in Qatar.Coach Mancini said: “I’m more than disappointed, I’ve nothing to say. “Something incredible happened tonight. We deserved to win the Euros, now we’ve been really unlucky … but that’s it, that’s the reality. I’m sorry for the players.”Italian star Giorgio Chiellini told RAI: “It’s hard to explain, it’s such a huge disappointment.“We played well but we just failed to score the goal. We’ve made mistakes since September and we’ve paid for them. We’re distraught.” Social media was quick to react, showing little sympathy for the Italians. Journalist Danny Armstrong tweeted: “I’m having a pineapple pizza tonight to celebrate.”Italy dominated the game but as has been the case in recent matches, struggled to break down a resolute opponent and when presented with chances, were not clinical enough to take them.The hosts should have been ahead on the half-hour mark when Domenico Berardi was gifted the ball on the edge of the area by goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski. The Sassuolo winger, who has been in red-hot form this season for his club, took too long to shoot and hit his effort into Dimitrievski’s welcoming arms.It was wave after wave of Italy attack but an initially vibrant crowd began to grow frustrated at their inability to carve out a clear opportunity to score, and it showed in a team which began to look desperate to make the breakthrough.Those fans were on their feet hailing an Italy hero seven minutes before the break, but it was for Alessandro Florenzi stopping Darko Churlinov from giving North Macedonia a shock lead after bursting through into a great scoring position.Berardi looked Italy’s biggest threat and went close three times in the space of five second-half minutes, first hitting a weak shot at Dimitrievski before curling another one just wide seconds later.And the 27-year-old had his head in his hands in the 58th minute when after beautifully spinning into a shooting opportunity, he smashed over the crossbar with his weaker right foot.He was frustrated again just after the hour mark, this time Ezgjan Alioski throwing himself into a fantastic block after Marco Verratti had clipped Berardi through with a typically classy ball.Giacomo Raspadori then smashed a first-time shot over the bar from the edge of the box and Gianluca Mancini headed a corner over the bar as Italy continued to push without ever managing to break their opponents down.And just as the match looked to be heading into a tense extra-time Trajkovski, a former Palermo player, popped up to hit a perfect low strike past Gianluigi Donnarumma and cause another earthquake for Italian football.Portugal survived a second-half fightback to beat Turkey 3-1 and advance to the finals of the European World Cup qualifying play-offs.First-half goals from Otavio and Diogo Jota had Portugal cruising, but Burak Yilmaz pulled one back in the second half.The Turkey captain then missed a late penalty, and Matheus Nunes sealed Portugal’s win in stoppage time, setting up a play-off decider at home to North Macedonia. Elsewhere, a brilliant double from Gareth Bale took Wales to the brink of a first World Cup since 1958 thanks to a 2-1 win over Austria in Cardiff.Robert Page’s men will face Scotland or Ukraine for a place in Qatar later this year after Bale rolled back the years to again produce his best form for his country. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au