OT: North Macedonia def Italy in WC Qualifier
As lopsided of a game as you can get, all in Italy’s favor, And yet they still find a way to lose.
At least they have their Euro trophy
For real…
2018: misses WC
2020: wins Euros
2022: misses WC
Because that makes sense.
Oh, I've gotta see this. Hopefully there will be a rebroadcast.
Found the game winner
What a strike!
Great find! +1
For some additional context- Italy is currently 6th in FIFA rankings, North Macedonia is 67.
Hard to draw an equivalent to NCAA men's hoops, but it would be like a 1 seed falling to one of the worst teams in college- the gap between 6 and 67 in soccer is MASSIVE. And upsets in soccer really don't happen very often due to the fact that a soccer game is so long and there are less fluky-type plays that happen in the length of a 90 minute contest. The better teams generally win these games comfortably.
I don’t think the gap is as big as you say. This north Macedonia team beat Germany in group play, and Italy wouldn’t be in this round of qualifying if they had taken care of business in the last group play match against Northern Ireland. It’s more of a 14 beating a 3: shocking, but it happens every couple years.
The lower scoring the sport, the more likely a team is to upset.
But are they champions of life?
I don't follow soccer, but I'm guessing that a large European country like Italy should be pretty good at the game. Is it okay to laugh at them?
Italy's great passion is the national team. They might burn whole cities to the ground in their rage. Because Italy should never EVER lose to North Macedonia. This is historic.
Italy won the European Championship last year, which is nearly as hard to win as the World Cup and extremely important (they were a really fun team, too, I enjoyed them a great deal). They are one of the powers of world soccer.
So, yes. It is absolutely ok to laugh.
I know I am.
Great, now they will go on to conquer Greece, Syria, Persia, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Bactria, and Transoxiana, before being stopped in India.
I see what you did there
Unfortunately the only way the Indians beat them is if it's wrestling or cricket
This would be like watching MSU and the greatest tourney coach of all time Tom Izzo losing to Middle Tennessee St. No way it could ever happen.
Not that off topic considering the yuuuuuuuge USA-MEX game tonight (what a night of sports!).
This is craaaaazy. I have no love lost for the Italian team after De Rossi brutally elbowed McBride in 2006, but I do prefer when the "big" teams are in it.
Totally wild that they won the Euros just last year. How do you sandwich that around two failed WC qualifications?!
I really wish that game started around 9:15 or 9:30 so I could watch most of it- I don't think I can stay up past 11 lol.
Ha, my problem today is that I'm west coast so the Michigan game is annoyingly early.
Yeah - for real - and they had an incredible unbeaten streak in there too. I'll never forget that dirty dirty DeRossi elbow. He should've been tossed.
Too bad we won't get to see Italy flop like fish while also playing outrageously dirty in the World Cup this year.
GO USA! BEAT MEXICO!
That's OK, you can watch Portugal flop like fish instead. This result is nuts, but even so, one of Italy or Portugal was always going to be on the sidelines. I won't miss watching Italians repeatedly pretend their limbs are hanging by a thread.
So the interesting thing ... but a SUUUPER longshot is the US, if they can manage 9 points in this last segment, now that Italy has fallen out of the WC... there's an outside chance that the US could find their way into Pot 1 for the WC draw.
That said, there's no time or ability to think about nonsense like that. Win tonight first. Win and get in.
Is North Macedonia even recognized as a country these days?
It'll always be the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to me.
It's really just a loose confederation of goat herders.
I'll defer to your Majesty. But seriously, I heard their people are just waiting to be rescued by their motherland.
They have a North Macedonia now?
Greece gives you all the upvotes it can
Those directional schools sure are plucky.
INCONCEPIBILE!
[Inconceivable!]
North Macedonia, what is that? A club in the north of Greece? Surely, that isn't a nation. Wow, first St. Peter's and now North Macedonia...
If you think North Macedonia is good, you should see West Macedonia.
March 24th, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^
No one can go to West Macedonia anymore since the NCAA gave it the death penalty.
Wasn't there a kerfuffle about a Macedonia region in Italy and North Macedonia, and who got to use the name?
Maybe Italy can just claim North Macedonia is really Italy.
It was between (now North) Macedonia and Greece. Greece didn't like another country using "Macedonia" because to them, Macedonia is a Greek region - they like to claim Alexander the Great as belonging to them and not some breakoff from Yugoslavia.
It really got funny when they started bitching at each other where (now North) Macedonia belonged in the alphabetical listing of countries, since the country was called "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" as a temporary name and Greece insisted that "Former" be capitalized and considered part of the country's legal name. The whole thing was hilariously petty.
Revenge for Pydna, I guess.
In all honesty, Europe probably doesn't have enough spots in World Cup qualification.
If North Macedonia can pull off one more miracle, 3 former Yugoslav territories will qualify this cycle (Serbia, Croatia).
FIRE GREG B!!!!!!!!