(Northern Ireland-Italy 0-0/Switzerland-Bulgaria 4-0) Italy missed the World Cup for the first time in 50 years in 2018. Now the European champions have to go the hard way in qualifying. Switzerland is ready to host the World Cup in Qatar.
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While Italy blocked the Northern Ireland Wall in Belfast, Noah Okafor, Robin Vargas, Cedric Itten and Remo Froeller hit the net in Lucerne. They sent Switzerland to heaven and to next year’s World Cup.
Thus, Roberto Mancini’s men will have to play again in the spring, when only three of the 12 teams will get a place in the World Cup. The Italy coach was not happy with anything.
Although we control the matches, we struggle to score goals. It’s disappointing because we should have finished things earlier in this group. Mancini says we should look at what’s causing us problems and keep our cool until March BBC.
– To disappointment, he writes Gazzetta dello sport He believes the recording problem “has taken on biblical proportions” Just four months after the European Championship gold at Wembley.
Italy did not create much before resting against a Northern Irish defense led by veteran Leicester players Jonny Evans and Tom Flanagan – on a daily basis at level 3 in England at Sunderland. Oxford’s Gavin White also emerged in the first league against Italian superstars. Milan’s Sandro Tonali was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent’s quick free kick after 84 minutes.
The European champions had eight out of 11 from the last team on the field, but they often had to just roll the ball against a well-organised team. Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Billy Peacock Farrell rarely played.
Switzerland also did not get the ball in goal at home against Bulgaria. Thus, Roberto Mancini’s men still have a World Cup spot on hand at the break at Windsor Park.
The second half started with Noah Okafor’s header in Xherdan Al Shugairi’s pass in Switzerland. The Lyon player made his 100th cap. And so Italy was on its heels in the Irish Sea. Millwall’s George Savile was at the same time very close to giving Northern Ireland the lead.
Only a save by Gianluigi Donnarumma separated the hosts from the top spot against Italy, who had been unbeaten since the 1958 World Cup.
Then Robin Vargas in Switzerland increased in Lucerne. Thus, they equalized the goal difference for Italy. Both teams were 13-2, but Switzerland were two points ahead.
And it only got worse when Cedric Itten’s tally rose to 3-0 in Lucerne.
Italy created zero and nothing against a tightly organized home team where Jonny Evans has been ruling for the past 11 years. Also in 2010, Italy had to return home from Belfast without scoring a goal.
Northern Ireland had the greatest opportunities. Conor Washington had a good chance just before the end, but the Northern Irish missed a massive win.
For Italy, which took four golds at the World Cup, a 0-1 win was not enough. No Italian goal will be disqualified from Switzerland’s World Cup place – probably mainly because Jorginho missed a penalty for Italy in a match.
Norway could also end up in the qualifiers after the Netherlands game on Tuesday. Below is an overview of the countries that will participate in the qualifiers.
Group A: Portugal.
Group B: Sweden.
Group C: Italy.
Group D: Finland or Ukraine.
Group E: Wales or Czech Republic.
Sixth group: Scotland.
Group G: Holland, Turkey or Norway.
Group H: Russia.
The first group: Poland.
Group J: North Macedonia.
At the time of writing, it looks like Wales and Austria will be the next two teams through the Nations League.
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