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Other SportsChelsea Ace Jorginho in Tears, Makes Heartbreaking Statement After Italy Exit from Playoffs
- Jorginho missed two crucial penalties on two separate occasions for Italy during qualifiers
- The Chelsea midfielder was in tears at full time after Italy were knocked out by North Macedonia
- This will be the second World Cup in a row in which the Azzurri will be absent from
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has admitted he will be ‘haunted for life’ after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row.
The Azzurri, against the odds, were stunned in the play-offs by minions North Macedonia, who got a stoppage-time winner in a game that was thoroughly dominated by Roberto Mancini’s side.
In what proved to be a case of smash-and-grab, Alexander Trajkovski scored the winning goal to pile misery on Italy, who somehow found themselves in the play-offs mere months after being crowned Champions of Europe.
The defeat will be particularly painful for Jorginho, who missed two crucial penalties in two separate matches in the build-up to the play-offs.
As per Football Italia, a teary Joginho spoke after the North Macedonia game, saying:
“It hurts when I think about it, because I do still think about it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life,”
“Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me. People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it’s tough.”
The fall of Italy, how it happened
After a woeful World Cup in 2014, the 2006 World Champions had some rebuilding to do, and with the help of Mancini, The Azzurri looked like they were on their way back to their glory days.
A frightening unbeaten run which was characterized by impressive clean sheets, indicated that Italy was perhaps ready to compete with the big boys once again, but there were still underlying holes in their game, particularly in attack.
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FootballPrior to the play-offs, Mancini’s side drew four of their last eight games and ended up finishing second in their group behind Switzerland, who gained an automatic ticket to Qatar.
Gareth Bale’s perfect response to critics
In the other play-off game, Gareth Bale was the hero for Wales as his two goals were enough to see off Austria 2-1 in a highly engaging game.
Interestingly, Bale’s goals came at the back of a scathing article by Spanish paper Marca, criticizing the 32-year old’s performances at Real Madrid.
After the game, Bale slammed the author of the piece, saying the remarks were “disgusting”.