Italy have lost their chance to compete in this year’s World Cup after being defeated by North Macedonia.

The European champions failed to score a single goal during the play-off semi-final at home with the final result recorded as 1-0.

North Macedonia’s Aleksander Trajkovski scored the winning goal in second-half stoppage time, sparking wild celebrations from the crowd.

The team will now go on to play Portugal in the play-off final next week.

This marks the second time since 1958 that Italy have failed to qualify for the World Cup after being defeated by Sweden for a chance to play in the 2018 tournament.

As the final whistle was blown, several of Italy’s players were seen crying while their opposition celebrated.

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Meanwhile, Wales managed to beat Austria 2-1 in their World Cup play-off semi-final, leaving them in sight of their first appearance in the finals for 64 years.

Gareth Bale scored both goals for the side – the first being a stunning free-kick in the first half of the game.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, the 32-year-old said: “It was a massive game.

“We knew coming into it, we spoke yesterday about how big the game is and we have to perform, we have to dig in deep to look into our experience in big games. It’s a perfect scenario.”

A World Cup play-off final against Scotland or Ukraine awaits Wales now, although this has been put on hold until June because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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