Italy let the World Cup slip away once again
The Italian soccer national team failed to qualify for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. On Thursday, they suffered a defeat against North Macedonia 1–0 in a stunning game. Italy just simply could not find the net all night, all though they took 32 shots, only 5 of them were on target. While on the other hand, North Macedonia defended very well all game and finally caught a break with a 90+ min goal outside of the box from Aleksandar Trajkovski.
What to take away from this game:
This game was very upsetting for Italy because they have been looked at as one of the best national teams recently, especially after winning the 2021 Euros last summer. Many were picking them as favorites to win the World Cup if they qualified. Thursdays loss is bad for the national team, but what makes this loss even worse is they have failed to qualify for the World Cup in back to back tournaments because they were not in the 2018 Russia World Cup as well. Here is a crazy stat to put it in perspective how long it has been, Italy’s last World Cup game was June 15, 2014. Group stage vs England, 2840 days ago.
Whats Next?
Well for North Macedonia this win is amazing new in hope to achieving a World Cup spot. There next game is against Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal team on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @ 1:45PM CT. This will be a tough challenge but if they win this game they will have a spot in the 2022 Qatar World Cup and this would be history for them because they have never qualified for the tournament before.
Now for Italy’s side the future is bright with the players they have but there are questions to why they struggle to qualify for the tournament. Many people are upset about this current situation, so I would not be surprised if changes are made in the future with the coach and selection of players. This national team has to find the answers to this solution urgently and have the right system heading into the qualifiers for the next World Cup in 4 years.
