Italy have now failed to qualify for the World Cup twice consecutively.
The last time Italy qualified for the FIFA World Cup was in 2014. But, it was quite a sight to see the absence of Italy in the Russian World Cup of 2018. Italy is now facing a similar tune for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as they again fail to qualify for the prestigious tournament. Fans expect more from their team when they contain some of the biggest football stars in the world playing for the best teams in the world. Giorgio Chiellini (former Juventus player), Leanardo Bonucci (Juventus), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain) and Jorginho (Chelsea).
Talented footballers in your team are not enough to qualify for the biggest football event in the world if there is no coordination and unity within the team. It is essential for any team to have those qualities to succeed at the highest level.
Winner of the 2020 UEFA Euros
Italy are not an underdog team by any means. Italy are currently the reigning European Champions by winning the UEFA Euros in 2020. They defeated England in their own turf in the finals which took place in London. By not qualifying for the World Cup twice, it send a shockwave across its fanbase. Fans are starting to wonder whether its the downfall of Italian football which once was the jewel of the football world.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualification Rounds
The 2022 edition of the World Cup will now take place in Qatar. 31 teams had to battle it out to see who would secure their place in the historic football event while Qatar being the host automatically got the spot. For the UEFA World Cup qualification round, Italy was placed in FIFA World Cup 2022 Groups C alongside Switzerland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Northern Ireland. The winner of the group gets direct qualification for the World Cup. Switzerland topped the Group C and qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The team which would be the first runner-up would get a second chance to make it to the tournament by playing in the playoffs.
According to the standards Italy set for themselves, it should have been an easier group for them to get out of and qualify for the World Cup. But it turned out to be quite difficult for the former World Cup winners. Their first three games looked promising as they won them all. But eventually, a streak of bad results followed the Italian giants. Out of the remaining five games, Italy drew four and won only one. As a result, they finished behind Switzerland wanting three points to finish top of the group and qualifying for the World Cup. However, Jorginho missed crucial chances to seal Italy’s fate in the tournament and ended up giving Switzerland the place in World Cup.
Italy playoffs: Explained
After giving the qualification spot to Switzerland, Italy’s hopes were not lost. They had another chance to book their tickets for the winter World Cup at Qatar by playing through the playoffs. Portugal was also playing their qualification round to proceed through to the tournament. Everyone was expecting Portugal to win their match and Italy to win against North Macedonia and the playoffs would be between Portugal and Italy. North Macedonia met Italy before Portugal but the underdogs proved to be too strong for the Italian giants.
North Macedonia pulled off one of the biggest shock and underdog story of the World Cup by disqualifying Italy out of the World Cup when they won 1-0 against the Azzurris. Their celebration didn’t last long as Portugal evidently beat North Macedonia to qualify for the World Cup. Italy after getting knocked out would mean that despite being the European Champions would not get a 2022 World Cup spot for the second time in succession.
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