European champions Italy on Monday missed out on automatic qualification for next year’s FIFA World Cup after being held to a goalless draw by Northern Ireland in Belfast, ceding the top spot in Group C to Switzerland, who beat Bulgaria 4-0.
Italy needed to match Switzerland’s result to qualify directly, but while Roberto Mancini’s side could only stutter to a stalemate, Switzerland went on the rampage in Lucerne to book their ticket for Qatar.
There they will find England, the team Italy beat in the UEFA Euro 2020 final in July, who clinched their qualification with a rampant Harry Kane bagging four goals in 15 minutes in a 10-0 win in San Marino.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The qualification was earned away in Budapest, in Warsaw, in Albania and I’ve got to credit all of our players and staff on a really good year,” England manager Gareth Southgate said. “The mentality, even in a game like tonight, we can’t do anything about the level of the opposition, but the way we played was terrific.”
Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain and Serbia have also qualified directly from Europe. One more place was yesterday to go to one of the Netherlands, Norway or Turkey, with the remaining spots to be settled through the playoffs in March.
The same fate befell Italy in 2018, when they famously failed to qualify for the World Cup after a miserable aggregate defeat to Sweden.
“Right now it is what it is, we struggle to score goals, we always have control of the play... It’s a shame because the group should have been finished before this match,” Mancini told Radiotelevisione italiana. “I have faith, let’s see in March, but we might even win it.”
Italy rarely troubled the home side, only coming to life when news trickled through of Switzerland’s goal-scoring in Lucerne.
Noah Okafor’s strike put Switzerland ahead three minutes into the second half, and after Xherdan Shaqiri hit the post, Ruben Vargas doubled the score.
Switzerland then had two goals ruled out for offside, but when Cedric Itten headed in for 3-0 after 72 minutes, it meant Italy needed to win by two in Belfast.
As Italy grew more frantic and almost gave away a goal to Conor Washington, who had a shot scrambled off the line, Switzerland nailed the outcome with Remo Freuler making it 4-0 in added time.
England needed just a point from their trip to San Marino, the lowest ranked of FIFA’s 210 competing nations.
San Marino had lost 36 of their 37 previous home World Cup qualifiers, losing the last 35 in a row by an aggregate score of 146-7. The one non-defeat came in a 0-0 draw with Turkey in 1993.
This time they were unfortunate to come up against a hungry Kane who scored four goals in the space of 15 minutes in the first half.
The outcome was never in doubt once Harry Maguire headed in the opener after five minutes. A Filippo Fabbri own-goal made matters worse, but that set the stage for Kane.
His first came from the penalty spot in the 27th minute, and he netted again with a scuffed effort five minutes later.
His second penalty in the 39th minute completed his fourth international hat-trick and his second in four days, having also put three past Albania on Friday.
Two minutes later, he produced the best of the lot with some neat control inside the box to bag his fourth which took him to 48 goals for England, level with Gary Lineker and behind only Bobby Charlton (49) and Wayne Rooney (53).
“Every time I wear an England shirt I am proud, and when I score goals it is one of the nicest feelings I can have in my career. Nice to be among those names,” Kane said.
Emile Smith Rowe, Tyrone Mings and Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka all found the net in the second half as England closed their qualifying campaign in style, finishing six points clear of Poland who go into the playoffs after losing 2-1 at home to Hungary.
LONG WAIT OVER: The Brothers have won the top prize after being unable to get over the final hurdle in six of the past seven years, defeating the Lions 5-0 The CTBC Brothers have finally tasted victory in the Taiwan Series after an 11-year wait, winning the title last night by completing a four-game sweep of the Uni-President Lions at the Tainan Municipal Stadium. The Brothers were crowned champions of Taiwanese professional baseball after a 5-0 win in Game 4 after being unable to get over the final hurdle in six of the past seven years. It was a magical first year for CTBC manager Lin Wei-chu, a former standout with Japan’s Hanshin Tigers. He has brought a title to the starving Brothers fans — who have endured a string of second-place finishes
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: Tsai Ing-wen attended pre-game events, with her staff saying that she wanted to show her strong support for the nation’s most popular sport Two home runs gave the CTBC Brothers a 2-0 victory over the Uni-President Lions in an otherwise pitcher-dominated Taiwan Series opener in Taichung yesterday. CTBC took the lead in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series, with Taichung Intercontinental Stadium fully open and filled to capacity with 20,000 spectators because health authorities have kept the COVID-19 pandemic at bay. CTBC fans dominated the stands, turning them yellow as so many were wearing their team’s colors. The CPBL’s championship series is to continue with Game 2 today, also in Taichung. President Tsai Ing-wen made an unannounced visit prior to game’s start, participating in the opening ceremony and posing
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-ching on Sunday secured a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Texas, after losing to their Chinese opponents 1-3 in the semi-finals. The duo lost to Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, dashing their hopes of competing for the gold medal. It was the first time they had faced the Chinese duo. In the first game, Lin and Cheng established an 8-6 lead, but gave away five straight points to lose on unforced errors. They successfully regrouped and won the second game 11-7. In the third game, the
Next year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar is sure to be without either Italy or Portugal after the current and previous European champions were drawn into the same qualifying playoff bracket on Friday, meaning that at least one will fail to qualify for the tournament. Italy first face North Macedonia at home in a playoff semi-final in March, with the winners to play away against either Portugal or Turkey for a spot at the World Cup. Four-time champions Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, missing the tournament for the first time since 1958 after losing in the playoffs against
RSS