Draft:Italy v North Macedonia (2022 FIFA World Cup qualification)

The qualifying match for the 2022 FIFA World Cup between Italy and North Macedonia is a historic football match played on 24 March 2022. The match was valid for UEFA play-off semifinals.

Background
Italy and North Macedonia both advanced to the playoffs as runners-up of their groups. Italy had previously participated to all world cups, except in 1930, when they withdrew before the final draw, and in 1958 and 2018, when they failed to qualify. Italy also won the title 4 times, (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006). North Macedonia instead had never qualified for a World Cup or any other major tournament, except UEFA Euro 2020.

Match details
Italy were the defending European champions, and were given as highly favourites, considering also their 6th position in the FIFA World Rankings, compared to North Macedonia's 67th. However, the Azzurri failed to convert the many chances they created, instead, the Macedonians managed to score the only goal of the match with a shot by Aleksandar Trajkovski in the 92nd minute. Italy's defeat meant the four time world champions would not qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the second time in a row, event never happened in history of association football. North Macedonia advanced to the final, where they lost to Portugal, whom eventually qualified for the World Cup.