Italy fail to qualify for first World Cup in 60years

Italy failed to break down a resolute Sweden defence as the teams played out to a 0-0 draw at San Siro, eliminating the Azzuri from the 2018 FIFA World Cup participation.

The hosts were denied a penalty shout in the seventh minute after Marco Parolo was fouled in the box but the referee waved play on.
Sweden had their own penalty shout waved away by the referee in the 12th minute when the ball seemed to have been handled by Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian but the referee thought otherwise.

Ciro Immobile made a run down the wing and cut the ball back for Antonio Candreva, who shot over the crossbar from a very good position as the scores remained 0-0 after 27 minutes.

Immobile had an opportunity of his own in the 40th minute but was denied by Robin Olsen in the Swedish goal after the winger’s attempt was initially saved by the goalkeeper and further cleared off the line by defender Victor Lindelof.

Despite all of Italy’s attacks, Sweden stood firm as the half ended with the teams tied at 0-0.

Italy were applying more pressure in the second half and in the 57th minute, defender Giorgio Chiellini took a shot from outside the box but his effort deflected off a defender and was easily gathered by Olsen.

Giampiero Ventura tried to change the game for Italy as he made a double substitution which saw Damian and Manolo Gabbiadini make way for Andrea Belotti and Stephan El Shaarawy in the 65th minute.

El Shaarawy’s 86th minute attempt from just inside the box was well kept out by Olsen, who did his best on the night to repel Italy’s attempts at his goal.
The Azzuri failed to break the resolute defence of Sweden, who book their ticket to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with 0-0 draw on the night and 1-0 aggregate win in the overall tie.

Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1958, while Sweden became the 29th nation to book their ticket.