Italy World Cup hopes over: From European champions to the second apocalypse in nine months – what happened?

Italy vs North Macedonia
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The referee blows the full-time whistle. Distraught Italy players crumple to the turf as boos tumble down from the stands of their home stadium. The Azzurri have failed to qualify for the World Cup through the play-offs.   

Astonishingly, this paragraph now describes two qualification campaigns in a row.   

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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.