Overview
- After failing to clinch direct qualification, Italy will seek a place at the World Cup via March playoffs, with the field nearly set and Norway not among possible opponents.
- In recent outings Italy has leaked goals—seven conceded to Norway across two matches, five to Germany and four to France—fueling doubts about defensive solidity and midfield control.
- Gattuso has leaned on a tentative 4-2-4, with Donnarumma behind Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori and Dimarco, Tonali and Barella in midfield, and Retegui with Kean supported by Orsolini, Politano or Zaccagni.
- The stakes are generational, as the youngest Italians to have appeared at a World Cup were born in 1992 and another miss would deepen the experience gap.
- This peril follows playoff exits to Sweden over two legs in 2017 and to North Macedonia in a single home tie in 2022, when injuries and absences weakened Mancini’s side.