European Champion Italy misses the World Cup again – Portugal & Sweden through, Turkey & Austria out

Late bankruptcy against North Macedonia

This news was first published on March 24th at 10:42 p.m. and has now been supplemented with the match between Sweden and the Czech Republic.

European champions Italy sensationally missed out on participating in the World Cup, and Stefan Kuntz’s dream of Turkey with Turkey has also burst. Italy surprisingly lost 0-1 (0-0) against the blatant outsiders North Macedonia in the playoff semi-finals in Palermo on Thursday and therefore have to watch the finals again, as they did in 2018. North Macedonia, who only scored the winning goal in injury time through Aleksandar Trajkovski, now face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portuguese in the play-off final on Tuesday, who won 3-1 (2-0) against Turkey coached by Kuntz.

Sweden, who won against the Czech Republic in Stockholm 1-0 (0-0) after extra time and is now traveling to Poland for the playoff final, also remains in the race for a World Cup ticket. The team led by world footballer Robert Lewandowski had progressed without a fight because FIFA had suspended the Russian selection because of the aggressive war against Ukraine. Match winner for Sweden was former Mainz player Robin Quaison with his goal in the 110th minute.

Austria, on the other hand, missed their first World Cup appearance since 1998. Captain David Alaba’s team lost 2-1 (0-1) against Wales in Cardiff. The Welsh will have to wait until June for their opponents, however, as Ukraine are scheduled to play their semi-finals against Scotland. FIFA moved the game because of the war.

Italy vs North Macedonia: This is how the playoff semifinals went

To home page

ttn-38