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PORTO, Portugal : Portugal coach Fernando Santos said he warned many times that North Macedonia could shock Italy and he was proved right when they won their World Cup qualifying playoff semi-final 1-0 in Palermo on Thursday.
European champions Italy did not qualify for the World Cup four years ago, their first failure to reach soccer's global showpiece tournament since 1958, but they dominated from the off in Palermo and looked on course for victory.
Italy will miss their second World Cup in a row after slumping to a shock 1-0 play-off semi-final defeat to North Macedonia.
European champions Italy will not feature at the World Cup later this year after a monumental upset defeat to North Macedonia in their play-off semi-final.
North Macedonia stunned European Champions Italy in the dying minutes to set up a clash against Portugal in the World Cup qualifying finals. The four-time World Champions failed to qualify for the tournament in Russia after being knocked out by Sweden in the play-offs.
European champion Italy will miss the World Cup. Again.
European champions Italy have been knocked out of qualifying for this year's World Cup.
Aleksander Trajkovski struck late as North Macedonia stunned Italy to dump the European Champions out of the World Cup. There was no way through for either side in the first half, despite Italy peppering the North Macedonia goal for large parts of the opening period.