World Cup qualifiers | Italy shoots itself in the foot

European champion Italy missed out on automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup after being held to a goalless draw by Northern Ireland in Belfast on Monday, ceding top spot in Group C to Switzerland.

The Italians needed to match Switzerland’s result to qualify directly but while Roberto Mancini’s side could only stutter to a stalemate, the Swiss blanked Bulgaria to book their ticket for Qatar.

The results: Group C: Northern Ireland 0 drew with Italy 0; Switzerland 4 (Okafor 48, Vargas 57, Itten 72, Freuler 90+1) bt Bulgaria 0.

Group F: Austria 4 (Arnautovic 4, 55-pen, Trimmel 22, Ljubicic 83) bt Moldova 1 (Nicolaescu 60); Israel 3 (Dabbur 30-pen, Weissman 58, Peretz 75) bt Faroe Islands 2 (Vatnhamar 62, Olsen 72); Scotland 2 (Souttar 35, Adams 86) bt Denmark 0.

Group I: Albania 1 (Cekici 74-pen) bt Andorra 0; Poland 1 (Swiderski 62) lost to Hungary 2 (Schafer 37, Gazdag 80); San Marino 0 lost to England 10 (Maguire 6, Fabbri 15-og, Kane 27-pen, 32, 39-pen, 42, Smith Rowe 58, Mings 69, Abraham 78, Saka 79).