Tearful Jorginho Blames Himself For Italy's World Cup Failure After Two Missed Penalties

Chelsea's Jorginho was in tears after Italy were eliminated from World Cup qualifying. He blamed himself after two penalty misses earlier in the campaign.

Chelsea midfielder Jorginho was in tears on Tuesday night after Italy were eliminated from World Cup qualifying.

Jorginho played the full 90 minutes in Palermo where Italy fell to shock 1-0 loss to North Macedonia in a playoff semi-final.

Italy were the dominant side on the balance of play but failed to take their chances before being hit by a 92nd-minute suckerpunch.

Jorginho (left) cries on the pitch after Italy are beaten by North Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier :: IMAGO/LaPresse/Fabio Ferrari

Missed chances had plagued Italy's qualifying campaign and prevented them from reaching Qatar 2022 automatically by winning Group C.

Italy ended the group phase unbeaten, having won four and drawn four of their qualifiers.

They only finished below Switzerland on goal difference but the situation would have been very different had Jorginho not twice failed from the penalty spot.

Jorginho is widely regarded as a penalty expert but he missed the target from a spot-kick in the final minute of Italy's 1-1 draw with Switzerland in November.

Two months earlier, Switzerland keeper Yann Sommer saved a Jorginho penalty in a 0-0 draw.

Jorginho looks down in bemusement after missing a penalty for Italy against Switzerland in November 2021 :: IMAGO/Insidefoto/Andrea Staccioli

Looking back on Italy's failed World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday night, Jorginho told RAI Sport: "We played good football, we won the European Championship last summer, but unfortunately in the last few games we made small errors and were unable to recover from them. They made the difference.

"It hurts when I think about it, because I do still think about it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life... Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me.

"People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it's tough."