Fans of international football had an absolute treat last March 24. Well, except the Italians. Italy got upset at home by North Macedonia, 1-0 in the semifinal of the European World Cup Qualifiers. With the defeat, Italy failed to book a ticket to the World Cup for the second straight edition.

To provide some context, Italy won three World Cup titles before North Macedonia became an independent country, making the win even more improbable. As the dust settles, we look at three players to blame for Italy's collapse in the World Cup qualifying tournament.

Players to blame for Italy missing the World Cup 

3. Gianluigi Donnarumma 

This is a hard one to sell, as Donnarumma has been unbeatable over the past few seasons. In the first round, where Italy was in a group with Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, the PSG goalkeeper allowed just two goals. Even though these goals did end up costing them the direct qualification from the group, we can hardly blame him. Everything changed recently for Donnarumma, however, and his poor form leading into the semifinal reared its ugly head.

It all went downhill from Donnarumma's club form. He infamously lost the ball to Karim Benzema, sparking a three-goal sequence that got PSG out of the Champions League. This does not really involve Italy, but after that game, he also conceded three goals versus Monaco last weekend, clearly showing that his confidence is beyond shaken.

In the game versus North Macedonia, the goal scored by Aleksander Trajkovski felt like it could have been saved. Of course, it was still an impressive goal and nothing should be taken away from Trajkovski, but Donnarumma is a tall goalkeeper and he should be reaching that ball any day of the week. Poor confidence that led to poor form clearly caused him to have a nightmare moment at a very bad time.

2. Jorginho 

Jorginho is one of the EURO 2020 heroes for Italy. He was not only one of the team's best scorers, mostly through penalties, but he was also pulling all the strings in a midfield that dominated all others in the tournament. He earned a spot in the top three of the Ballon D'Or race last year and took home the UEFA Men's Player of the Year plum. But since then, it seems Jorginho hasn't been the same player. It seems the missed penalty he had in the EURO completely threw him off, as he continued to fall short of what Italy fans expect of him.

The main reason why Jorginho is here is due to the games Italy had versus Switzerland. They played last September and that game ended in a 0-0 tie, with Jorginho missing a crucial penalty. He had a chance to redeem himself in the European World Cup Qualifiers, playing at the iconic Stadio Olimpico. It was a tense battle, where Switzerland took the lead but Italy responded. Then in the 90th minute, Jorginho missed another critical penalty, ending the match at 1-1.

Italy had another tie against Northern Ireland while Switzerland beat Bulgaria to top the group and book a flight to the World Cup. If Jorginho made one of those penalties, the situation could've been reversed.

1. Ciro Immobile 

Immobile was supposed to be the guy that gets Italy the goals. But as the star striker, he only managed an embarrassing two goals in the entire tournament. His only points came via a 94th-minute penalty versus Lithuania and a 39th-minute goal versus Northern Ireland. After those two games, Immobile completely disappeared. That could have been excused if he had shown up against North Macedonia.

Unfortunately, that was simply not the case. The Lazio star and the rest of his teammates, according to UEFA, had 67 attacks, 32 shots, 64% possession, 16 corner kicks, one clear chance, but they just did not get the ball in the back of the net.

Of course, it is the entire team at fault for not scoring against the overmatched North Macedonia side, but Immobile should be the one who's most accountable. Since he failed to score beyond the group stages, there is no one else to blame in Italy's unexpected exit in the semifinal than the star forward.