Italy-Norway 1-0 on the San Siro field for the final match in Group I of the 2026 World Cup Qualification
TARGET
In the 11th minute ITALY-Norway 1-0. Pio Esposito scores a goal
ANSA Agency Dimarco, Italy has an obligation to qualify for the World Cup I think representing your national team at the World Cup is a very important thing. EVENING
The push for a full show at San Siro (more than 66 thousand tickets sold) to put the controversies of the last days behind us and close the qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup in the best possible way, taking advantage of the possibility of revenge on Norway who already set our sights on the playoff challenge in March. It is in this spirit that Italy presents itself for tomorrow’s match against Haaland and his teammates, a match that will unfortunately have little or no value for its ranking (a 9-0 win, the only chance of getting a direct pass for the USA, seems unlikely) but will be the last important test before the decisive match in four months. “This will be a useful match to understand our current level,” explained coach Gennaro Gattuso in a press conference.
ANSA Agency Norway one step away from history: ‘But don’t party yet’ Leader Haaland one step away from World Cup: ‘I feel a responsibility’ However, first the coach wanted to return to what happened in Chisinau, also responding to Senate President Ignazio La Russa. “I respect what La Russa said but I don’t know where he was that night, he was clearly not at the stadium and he didn’t even see him on TV – explained Gattuso -. There were people who wanted death, there were people who said he would come to Coverciano, that we had to go to work. I agree that the boos had to be accepted but they weren’t boos, they were much more serious and we couldn’t accept them.” After closing the Moldova round, the Italian coach directed his attention to Norway. “We know what they want to do, they are good at keeping the defense together and then suddenly they can hurt you. 9-0 is unthinkable at the moment, in football you never say never but you have to look at the reality”, he said. “I congratulate Norway, they have shown great quality and what they have done is well deserved. Tomorrow we will play for pride against a team that put us in big trouble six months ago. We have to use our heads well, but we want to fight for it.”
Riccardo Calafiori
Calafiori and Tonali will not be present, with the former spared due to fatigue and the latter due to the risk of a warning that could force him to miss the playoff semi-finals. In midfield, despite the warning, Frattesi will be there from the first minute while Pio Esposito is ready to attack alongside Retegui. “Don’t stress Pio’s game too much, Pio just has to do it tomorrow. He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. For his age, he has extraordinary maturity, but tomorrow he just needs to do what he knows how.” But like it or not, eyes are already turning to the playoffs. Starting from the topic of the possibility of rescheduling Serie A matchdays to make the coach’s job easier. “There’s not much we can do about this. The president worked a lot on this, just one person can’t do miracles,” commented Gattuso. “It’s very difficult for us to move the game. We hope they give us 1-2 windows to look at the players, but moving the game is impossible for me.” Instead, the controversy regarding the format of the qualifying rounds was put aside: “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, in South America they slaughtered me. We live in a world where there is nothing to say, now I can’t go anywhere anymore – he said laughing -. I wanted to talk about it, but it’s true that one day the president came here to give a good interview because there are people who know better than me”.
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