For the second straight time, Italy will watch the World Cup from home.
The Italians suffered a stunning defeat during Thursday’s UEFA World Cup qualifying match against North Macedonia, conceding a stoppage time goal to Aleksander Trajkovski to seal a 1-0 defeat. The loss was Italy’s first defeat in 60 home World Cup qualifiers.
Italy dominated possession and was on the front foot for nearly the entire night, maintaining a 65% possession advantage and out-shooting North Macedonia 32-4, though was never able to break through on the score line. The result is especially unexpected given Italy just won the Euro championship eight months ago.
Prior to the 2018 World Cup, Italy had qualified for all but one World Cup that it had entered, with the lone exception coming in 1958. Now, the country that’s tied with the second-most World Cup wins (four) will miss consecutive events for the first time in its history.
Unsurprisingly, the soccer world was rocked by the result, and had plenty to say about it afterwards. Here are some of the best reactions from Italy’s unexpected ousting:
