With Di Marco, it comes down to the fact he cannot play in a back four against quality sides. He needs defensive cover. If they want to play him, we need to be preparing with a 352 type of look. Granted, these games against minnows where they are trying to score goals is not the best indicator because you are not fearful of Estonia on the counter for example. That said, our fate to the playoffs has been sealed, so we need to start playing with a formation and direction we can build on into the KO style of games. It will only do the team a benefit long term.
Yes starting with Israel and into the Norway game I want to see an Italy that is built for the playoffs and without getting ahead of itself the world cup. In many ways this is day one for Gatusso after a period of experimenting where he did not have a lot to lose. We always have to remember that in 2022 qualifying we did not play poorly we simply could not score because Mancini's offence broke down post Euros and he did not have a solution. There was no Di Marco then and with no Spinazolla we saw that his team was not able to really create danger. That's when we saw the limitations of Immobile with no one off the bench to offer anything else. Anything can happen but if Gatusso can get the midfield and defence sorted we likely will dominate the ball in the playoffs and with our current attack we should be able to to find that goal that we could not find against North Macedonia in 2022.
I don't like losing Kean. Everyone is loving Pio as they should, but Kean is our best striker. He's the best at creating his own chances, which is still needed in the international game, despite the club game attempting to wipe out individual striker chances and creativity. if you want to see why the club tactic approach is garbage for international play, go watch Greece play against Denmark. They deserve every bit of failure for attempting to play the international game like they are a mid level premier league team. More clownish than anything Italia has done recently, which takes a lot of clowning around to accomplish I repeat everyone is loving Pio, as they should.
How will it look if these guys qualify and Italy stays home? HISTORY For the first time ever Cape Verde has qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making them the second smallest country to ever qualify
It will be an indictment of the qualifying process. There will be a dozen European nations to miss the world cup that will be better than a dozen nations that do qualify. The 24 team Euro is now a far higher quality than the 48 team world cup until the final 8 or 4.
in my opinion it would have nothing to do with Italia. Only those who are envious of us or insecure would somehow link CAF qualifying with UEFA's. If they shared the same process, then it could be as a point used to embarrass us. But it's not, so those who would use it to bash us would come across as very odd. Now if they want to laugh at us for losing to Sweden and Macedonia, and then whoever we play next if we lose, then by all means have at it. rip us up based on UEFA, not CAF
This x1000. The quality of European sides being left at home for the likes of Cape Verde is ridiculous. I would say the same thing if Italy was qualified already - it is just the facts.
If I had to guess I'd say half of Cape Verde's NT are players born and raised in Portugal (former colony). As I wrote about Morocco after WC'22 this only shows Europe's strength to produce footballers.
This is something I fear, Spalletti never understood this and Gattuso might be the same, Dimarco and Di Lorenzo cannot defend quality wingers to save their lives. Calafiori recently was asked whats his natural position and he said full back. Why have they not tried him there even ONCE! He literally starts there on the best team in England and was recently their player of the month, lol. Then you have Bastoni playing CCB which is clearly not natural for him. What will it take to try Calafiori and Bastoni playing their best positions?!
Talks of Gattuso going to 3 at the back tonight. A good move. But let’s hope he understands the point of using a formation like this
Must Win today. Eliminate Israel and keeping a faint hope of Estonia stealing 1 Point from Norway next month.
good news is Odegard is out for the rest of the qualifiers which makes a 0-0 draw with Estonia more likely and also Sweden is bottom of their group and it looks like Kosovo will make the playoffs. So far the only team to really fear in the playoffs is Turkey but they will likely be seeded to high for us to play them as it stands I think.
Actually it doesn’t matter if a team finishes at the bottom of the qualifying group. It’s not the 3rd position that gives you a playoff place through nations league. It says that if a team does not finish 1st or 2nd can gain a playoff place in case this team won it’s nations league’s group. So Sweden still has many possibilities of earning a playoff spot in Pot 4.
There is also a rule I strongly disagree with. The playoffs format says that the team from pot 1 faces at home a team from pot 4. Fair enough. Then there is a draw about the home team. Disgusting. A draw to determine a place to a World Cup? Are they serious? The team which is ranked higher in Fifa should have the advantage. Or a home and an away leg like the past against Sweden. I recall that in case we had beaten North Macedonia we would have to play against Portugal away because of the draw. Rubbish. A neutral turf would have been a better scenario.Anything else than how it works now!
🇮🇹 Italy probable XI for today’s game• Switching from 4-4-2 → 3-5-2• Mancini in for suspended Bastoni• Raspadori starts instead of PioForza ragazzi 💪⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Q8QVigoPmq— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) October 14, 2025
Today there is the faintest of hopes for a favorable result of Estonia versus Norway. History tells us Norway will squash it immediately, but it is ok to hope a bit. if it is squashed we move on in reality we must prepare for the long term which is playoffs. Good luck everyone
not crazy about that back 3 Di Lorenzo isn't a RCB it seems like a Spalletti back 3. I will give Gatusso a pass because we are missing 3 CBs in Bastoni Scalvini Buongiorno.
Imagine a World Cup Squad consisting of Bastoni, Calafiori, Buongiorno, Scalvini and Leoni in central defence. I Know it won’t happen since Leoni will be out for too long and we are still not sure of a place in World Cup.
It’s official: Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Calafiori; Cambiaso, Tonali, Locatelli, Barella, Dimarco; Retegui, Raspadori