Mighty Italy eliminated ● Sweden defends 1-0 lead successfully in Milan to qualify
Mighty Italy was eliminated from next year’s World Cup finals in Russia yesterday when Sweden held on for a goalless draw despite an almost continuous barage from the ‘azzurri’.
That result gave the Swedes a 1-0 aggregate win sending the Italians out of the finals.
Needing to score two goals without suffering any to overturn a 1-0 deficit after the first leg, Italy forced the pace from the start.
But Sweden adopted a defensive ploy which kept the ‘azzurri’ at bay and away from goalkeeper Olsen, at least for the first 40 minutes.
Until then, despite their dominance, Italy only had one shot – by Candreva - which went over the bar.
But in the final five minutes of the first half, they went close to scoring on at least three occasions.
First it was Granqvist who cleared from near the goalline an Immobile effort which lost most of its power after hitting Olsen’s leg. Then Parolo shot well over from the edge of the area.
That was followed by a Bonucci header off a Gabbiadini freekick which went just over the bar.
Just before the interval whistle Florenzi tried to do it all on his own from near the byeline, but his shot was blocked by Olsen and cleared away by the Swedish defence.
It was a tense first half during which the referee, Lahoz of Spain, ignored protests from Italy and Sweden over three penalty appeals – one for Italy and two for Sweden.
Italy maintained the pressure in the second half but Sweden still defended stubbornly.
On 54 minutes, Florenzi had a good effort just missing the left upright and 10 minutes later, from a Candreva cross, it was Immobile who concluded wide from a good scoring position.
In the 66th minute, it was Lustic who almost committed an own goal as he headed backwards following a Florenzi cross, the ball landing on the crossbar and finishing in a corner.
Near the end, Italy went close twice. In the 87th minute, it was El Sharawi who had a shot punched out by goalie Olsen and a minute later, off a Florenzi cross, Parolo headed just wide.
It was the last real chance for the ‘azzurri’ to force extra time, but Sweden held on to register a precious goalless draw which saw them advancing to the finals.
Despite maintaining their unbeaten record in Milan - the Italians earned 22 victories and four draws with 76 goals scored and 22 conceded - it was a very disappointing result which many have already considered as a humiliating elimination.
It was a very disappointing career end for Italy goalie Gianluigi Buffon who was hoping to end his career with the finals in Russia next year.
Fixtures, results
World Cup 2018 European playoffs
Thursday Croatia-Greece ................................ 4-1 N. Ireland-Switzerland ................... 0-1 Friday Sweden-Italy ................................... 1-0 Saturday Denmark-Ireland ............................. 0-0 Sunday Switzerland-N. Ireland .................... 0-0 (Switzerland qualify on 1-0 aggregate) Greece-Croatia ................................ 0-0 Croatia qualify on 4-1 aggregate) Yesterday Italy-Sweden ................................... 0-0 Sweden qualify on 1-0 aggregate) Today Ireland-Denmark ..................................
FRIENDLIES
Yesterday Armenia-Cyprus .............................. 3-2 Georgia-Belarus ............................... 2-2 Bulgaria-Saudi Arabia ...................... 1-0 Turkey-Albania ................................. 2-3 Venezuela-Iran ................................ 0-1 Poland-Mexico ................................ 0-1