Sweden and North Macedonia still haunt Italy before Northern Ireland World Cup play-off semi-final | OneFootball

According to L'Équipe, Italy face Northern Ireland on Thursday at 20:45 in a World Cup play-off semi-final, with the scars of exits to Sweden in 2017 and North Macedonia in 2022 still raw.

In a cold Milan, Italy were suddenly on the brink after a 1-0 first-leg loss in Stockholm. They knew they were no longer a sure thing. After a 2014 group exit and Euro 2016 quarter-finals under Antonio Conte, qualifying had exposed flaws.

Giampiero Ventura, appointed after Conte left for Chelsea, drew most of the criticism, yet the country stayed confident, Italy had not missed a World Cup since 1958. There was a formidable backline of Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, recent Champions League finalists with Juventus.

The attack misfired, failing to score across 180 minutes. The second leg ended 0-0 at San Siro on 13 November 2017, the arena fell silent. Buffon, his sixth World Cup dream gone, cried in front of RAI cameras.

Four years later came the astonishing relapse. Under Roberto Mancini, Italy had rediscovered verve and won the Euro at Wembley eight months earlier, making North Macedonia appear manageable on paper. Palermo was chosen, sunshine bathed the city and tifosi serenaded the European champions.

The route to Qatar required then beating Portugal away, and there were questions over whether minds had drifted to that final. Italy could not quicken play enough to unsettle a compact block, racking up shots that kept missing. Aleksandar Trajkovski struck in stoppage time with a low cross-shot, a brutal comedown that left some, like Jorginho, realising they would never reach a World Cup.

Source: L'Équipe