Italy broke English hearts in July by winning the European Championship by defeating the hosts in the final, but after failing to reach the World Cup for the second time in a row, fans will believe victory at Wembley was just a fluke.

For a team that won the World Cup four times, Italy's record turned out to be disappointing.

Since winning the World Cup for the fourth time in 2006, Italy have not reached the knockout stages of the most famous tournament, winning only one match in the group stage of the finals.

The 1-0 loss to North Macedonia on Thursday in the World Cup qualifiers ended Italy's hopes of reaching the finals for the first time since 2014.

⚽️ Italy 🇮🇹 fail to reach the World Cup for the second edition in a row by losing a surprise at home with a goal at the hands of North Macedonia 🇲🇰 in the semi-finals of the qualifying round for the #WorldCup_2022 🇶🇦


🎙️ Report |

Youssef Suhaili pic.twitter.com/Ykhw0yS4Mi

— beIN SPORTS News (@beINSPORTSNews) March 24, 2022

This is the second time that Italy will miss the World Cup finals and between them they won the European Championship 2020. After finishing second in their group behind Switzerland, Italy had to play the play-off, which angered its fans.

The reaction to supplement loss would be stinging to say the least.

"It's hard to talk now, I don't know what to say," Roberto Mancini told reporters. "Last summer was happy, and now there's a big disappointment. It's not easy to think of other things, I'm sad for the players, I love them more today than I did in July."

"I'm the coach, I'm the one responsible, not the players. They have a great future, and they are a strong group for the future of the national team. We did not deserve this loss," added the coach, who took over Italy in 2018.

What a result 👏👏👏

🇲🇰 North Macedonia will face Portugal in the World Cup play-off final 🔜 pic.twitter.com/zpZmqOSOdy

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 24, 2022

Italy scored 32 balls on goal, while North Macedonia had 5, but North Macedonia goalkeeper Stoli Dimitrievsky gave the match of his life.

North Macedonia coach Milagoa Milevski sees the irony of his team's late victory goal, and told reporters, "We won the Italian way over Italy, a goal with two shots on goal. I am happy with this victory, and I am proud of the players."

North Macedonia, which has never qualified for the World Cup finals, plays Portugal next Tuesday for a place in the finals in Qatar, and no matter what happens at the end of the play-off, the trip to Palermo will be immortalized in the memory of the fans.

For Italy, it is back to where it was, 10 months after one of its best moments.