Italy will relive the ghosts of 2017, when it was left out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia by losing against Sweden in the playoffs, after drawing without goals this Monday against Northern Ireland in Belfast, a result that Switzerland took advantage of to snatch the direct ticket to Qatar 2022 winning 4-0 to Bulgaria.
In the other two European zone groups settled on Monday, England sealed the qualification with a historic 10-0 win in San Marino, with four goals scored by Harry Kane, while Scotland inflicted on already qualified Denmark their first defeat and will play the repechage in March.
With the results in group C, Italy lost the first place and finished second with 16 points, while Switzerland finished with 18, a leadership synonymous with being in Qatar within a year.
Both reached the last day tied on points (15), with a slight advantage for the Italians due to the best goal difference (two more than the Swiss), but all this was a dead letter as the Italians were unable to score against North Ireland.
The failure of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which 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), which meant qualification for Qatar-2022, were two slabs that weighed the team led by Roberto Mancini.
And the pressure became insurmountable when Switzerland scored their first goal against Bulgaria, the work of Noah Okafor (48), a prelude to the win that led “Nati” to Qatar.
Like four years ago, Italy will have to play the repechage. On this occasion, two single-game qualifiers in March. He will be joined among other teams by the previous European champion (2016), Portugal, who lost to Serbia (2-1) on Sunday.
“It’s a shame because we had chances in the first half to unlock the game quickly and play calmer. Now we have to regain strength for March. Will we go to the World Cup? I have total confidence and maybe we will even win it,” Italian coach Roberto warned. Mancini.
In San Marino, against the worst team in the world, England were virtually qualified, but sealed it with a historic win.
Harry Kane scored his four goals in the first half (27 from penalty, 32, 39 from penalty, 42), in a win that was completed by Harry Maguire (6), Filippo Fabbri (15 against), Emile Smith-Rowe (58) , Tyrone Mings (69), Tammy Abraham (78) and Bukayo Saka (79).
“We were fantastic. We were expected to win the last game, but we did a great job,” Kane congratulated himself after the game.
Semifinalist in the last World Cup and in the last European Championship, the English captain nevertheless admitted that they have to work to take that last step that leads them to fight for the titles: “We have to keep improving. I have the impression that we improve every year. But we have to take advantage of each training to polish small details. “
With this result, England finish undefeated in group I, with a total of 26 points, six more than Poland, which lost 2-1 against Hungary, although they will play the playoffs.
In group F everything was decided, but the Scottish victory against Denmark (2-0) is the first for the Nordics in this qualifying round and a reason for confidence for the British ahead of the March play-offs, of which The last three European participants will come out in Qatar 2022.
For this appointment, Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England and Switzerland are already classified, as well as Brazil by Conmebol and Qatar as host.
This Tuesday the tenth European team classified directly will be known, a ticket that will be played between the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx