At the end of a match that it dominated from the head and shoulders without managing to score, Italy fell on a clear strike from Aleksandar Trajkovski (0-1) this Thursday evening in Palermo. Nine months after being on the throne of Europe, the Nazionale will not play a second World Cup in a row after the trauma of 2017 against Sweden. An earthquake.
Italy 0-1 North Macedonia 
Goal: Trajkovski (90and+2) for North Macedonia
Football has this part of irrationality that makes it a unique sport. Italy, reigning European champions, at home, had on paper a boulevard to gain confidence before offering themselves a “final” against Portugal or Turkey. It was still necessary to succeed in forcing this Macedonian lock. A formality that has never been one, in Palermo this Thursday evening, since the Nazionale never managed to deceive the vigilance of Stole Dimitrievski. And since history is teasing, it was on the only half-chance that North Macedonia managed to create the sensation of these qualifiers. In Skopje, the night promises to be fiery. In Rome and everywhere in the Boot, morose as possible.
Dominating is not winning
In an incandescent Renzo Barbera, the puzzle that awaited the Nazionale comes together piece by piece before her eyes: a war of nerves where her only enemy is ultimately herself. Without Goran Pandev retired and Eljif Elmas suspended, North Macedonia can’t afford to compete against the European champions. And is content to defend, rather well by the way, hoping that fate will be favorable to him. In front, the Azzurri are gradually gaining momentum, carried by a Marco Verratti of the big nights. Problem: the little Owl may struggle to scrape balls 80 meters from his goals, his attackers have the shakes when pushing him to the bottom.
Ciro Immobile, captain for a night, is poorly served by imprecise crosses or simply too long in his execution. Domenico Berardi, he even misses the inevitable by crushing too much a shot towards the empty goal following an error by Stole Dimitrievski who redeems himself. If Italy does not concede any ball in its surface during this first period, it still manages to get a scare on an incomprehensible loss of the ball by Gianluca Mancini which requires a huge return in extremis from Alessandro Florenzi to prevent Darko Churlinov to send chills to Gigio Donnarumma. At the break, despite 15 attempts to 1, Italy is still back to the wall.
Trajkovski for eternity
The start of the second half is like the first act: if North Macedonia manages at times to keep the leather for a few minutes, it is Italy which gets the best chances. When Domenico Berardi is imprecise, the Sassuolo winger plays bad luck thinking to open the score, but an opposing defender saves the homeland in extremis.
The minutes go by, Roberto Mancini launches his offensives, the chances rain, but North Macedonia holds. Before achieving the feat, on the edge of added time: on a long ball, Aleksandar Trajkovski controls the chest from thirty meters and places a perfect shot in the small net of Donnarumma who can only see the damage (0-1, 90and+2). An incredible feat for North Macedonia, an equally great disappointment for Nazionale, which therefore misses a second World Cup in a row. It’s historic.
Italy (4-3-3): Donnarumma – Florenzi, Mancini (Chiellini, 89and), Bastoni, Emerson-Barella (Tonali, 77and), Jorginho, Verratti – Berardi (João Pedro, 89and), Motionless (Pellegrini, 77and), Insignia (Raspadori, 64and). Trainer: Roberto Mancini.
North Macedonia (4-5-1): Dimitrievski – S.Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski – Churlinov, Da.Babunski, Bardhi, Ademi (Ashkovski, 59and), Trajkovski – M.Ristovski (Miovski, 72and). Trainer: Blagoja Milevsky.
By Andrea Chazy