Italy 1 Macedonia 1: Azzurri fail to clinch play-off spot with disappointing draw

 

                Italy 1 Macedonia 1: Azzurri fail to clinch play-off spot with disappointing draw             

                Italy failed to secure a World Cup play-off spot  as they were held to an uninspiring 1-1 draw with Macedonia at the  Stadio Olimpico.Victory would have assured Gian Piero Ventura's  side of another chance to qualify behind group winners Spain, but they  were unable to see out a win in Torino.The Azzurri barely got out of second gear against their stubborn visitors but took a first-half lead through Giorgio Chiellini.They  were made to pay for their sluggish second-half display when Palermo  forward Aleksandar Trajkovski lashed home in the 77th minute to claim a  memorable point for Igor Angelovski's side.Italy travel to  Albania on Monday for their final Group G game and will want a  significantly improved performance to try to secure a play-off spot.The  Azzurri, captained by Gianluigi Buffon wearing their traditional blue  shirt on his 172nd international appearance, looked sharp in the early  stages and should have been ahead inside eight minutes.Ciro  Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne combined cleverly on the edge of the  Macedonia area to allow the latter to break through a static defence and  force Stole Dimitrievski into a smart save.Macedonia, clearly  not content to sit back and soak up pressure, carved out an excellent  opportunity of their own 10 minutes later, but Goran Pandev's crisp  volley was well held by Buffon.Italy then wasted two glorious opportunities to take the lead.Insigne  met Marco Parolo's clipped cross in the middle of the area but his  header lacked direction and was gathered by Dimitrievski.The  Macedonia goalkeeper should have been called into action again shortly  after when Davide Zappacosta pulled down a deep cross inside the area.  The Chelsea defender scuffed his half-volley horribly over, though.The mounting pressure paid off five minutes before the break as Chiellini scored his eighth goal for his country.Insigne  sliced open the Macedonia defence with an incisive pass into the path  of Immobile, who slid in a first-time cross for the Juventus defender to  coolly slot through the legs of Dimitrievski.The second half was  played out at a pedestrian pace with the first attempt on goal not  coming until the 64th minute. Stefan Spirovski tried his luck from  distance, but Buffon was equal to his sweetly struck shot.  The  Juventus stopper was in the right place again a few minutes later to  keep out Ilija Nestorovski's header from a teasing cross.Macedonia's  positive second-half display was rewarded 13 minutes from time when  Trajkovski latched onto Pandev's throughball to fire an unstoppable shot  past Buffon into the bottom-left corner. Substitute Federico  Bernardeschi drilled a long-range effort wide in the closing stages, but  three points would only have served to flatter Ventura's side after a  hugely disappointing performance.