With these results, Italy loses the first place in group C and finishes second with 16 points, while Switzerland he finishes with 18, a lead synonymous with being in Qatar a year from now.
Away from the team that amazed the continent by lifting the European Championship in July, Italy played under great pressure, signing a disappointing match, in which they nevertheless had some chances, solved without problems by the Northern Irish goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, in the image of Federico Chiesa’s shot in 38.
The failure of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, of which he was left out in the play-off after 60 years of continuous presence, together with the penalty that Jorginho missed on Friday against Switzerland (1-1) that meant qualification for Qatar 2022, were two slabs that weighed the team led by Roberto Mancini.
“We had trouble scoring despite dominating the game. It’s a shame because we had chances in the first half to unlock the game quickly and play more calmly.”Mancini lamented.
To harden the ‘via crucis’, Switzerland he scored the goal that gave him the virtual classification at the beginning of the second half (48), when a great center from Xherdan Shaqiri headed him with class Noah Okafor.
After the goal, Shaqiri had the sentence but found the post, as Okafor had done just before the break (45), with a cross shot in which the ball then walked over the goal line.
In the second part Switzerland It was a gale and quickly it was 2-0 (57), with a powerful shot from Ruben Vargas in a very fast play.
While in Belfast Italy he continued to suffer, with Chiesa unable to square a shot with a thread, his great specialty (62).
Two consecutive goals canceled by Switzerland for offside gave Italy a ball of oxygen, since at 3-0 it was not even worth scoring a goal against Northern Ireland.
But the ‘Nati’ was unleashed and Renato Steffen combined with Shaqiri before centering for Cedric Itten to achieve the third header (71).
Italy needed two goals in the last 20 minutes. The miracle was far from coming, with Ireland even having a clear option to score, and the European champion will have to overcome a difficult play-off in March – two single-match qualifiers – to be in Qatar-2022.
“We have to regain strength by March. Will we go to the World Cup? I have complete confidence and maybe even win it.”Mancini warned.
On the other hand, Switzerland completed their party in the small Lucerne stadium with a fourth goal, scored by Remo Freuler (91).
Source From: Ambito
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