Italy avoided some of the toughest competitors but will have to exorcize some demons to make it back to the World Cup after missing out on the last two editions. They’ll face Northern Ireland in the semi-final and either Wales or Bosnia in the potential deciding game.
The Azzurri will host the first match, likely in Bergamo. They’d eventually play on the road in the second one, La Repubblica informs. Their path in the qualifiers was basically set from the get-go, as they lost three-nil to Norway. Erling Haaland and company wound up winning every tilt, piling up goals, making a comeback basically impossible, and the rematch in San Siro futile. They prevailed in that one too last week.
Northern Ireland has already contributed to keeping Italy out of the World Cup twice. First in 1958, which was the Azzurri’s first-ever exclusion, in a head-to-head contest. Then, indirectly in 2021, when a nil-nil draw in the last game of the qualifiers forced Roberto Mancini’s squad to go through the playoffs, where they were defeated by North Macedonia.
Italy has lost once to such an opponent, tallying 7 wins and 3 draws in 11 meetings. Their foes closed their group in third place behind Germany and Slovakia. They were the lowest-ranked team in the pool, sitting in 69th position after the latest update.
Italy is coming off two straight eliminations in the World Cup playoffs. They made it only to the Round of 16 in the most recent European Championship, bowing out at the hands of Switzerland. Gennaro Gattuso took over the national team as Luciano Spalletti didn’t survive the rout versus Norway.
