Italy make their debut in the World Cup qualifiers against Norway this evening with Diego Coppola expected to make his international debut against Erling Haaland and Mateo Retegui in attack.
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Norway are already top of Group I with six points after two games, while Italy are yet to play a qualifier due to reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Nations League back in March when they bowed out to Germany, 5-4 over two legs. After failing to get out of the group stage in back-to-back World Cups (2010 and 2014, after champions in 2006), the Azzurri have regressed even further by failing to even reach the final tournament in 2018 and 2022. They did, of course, use those qualifying failures to bookend the European Championship trophy at EURO 2020, but Luciano Spalletti’s mandate is clear: return Italy to the world’s biggest stage.
2026 is an equally unmissable target for Norway as it is Italy, with Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard trying to lead their country to its first World Cup appearance since 1998 and just their fourth all time. Norway won promotion to the top tier of the Nations League back in November, so the Røde, Hvite, Blå (Red, White and Blue) are clearly gaining ground on the rest of the continent and should be expected, at minimum, to finish top-two in the group and reach the playoff round. A massive, almost must-win for Italy in game no. 1, and an incredible opportunity for Norway to continue their dominant start (+7 goal difference) and take charge with a win.
Italy CT Luciano Spalletti has been forced to make several changes to the original squad, seeing Alessandro Buongiorno, Matteo Gabbia, Manuel Locatelli and Moise Kean pulling out of the squad due to injuries, while Francesco Acerbi refused to play for the national team, not feeling part of Spalletti’s project.
Hellas Verona defender Coppola, 21, is expected to make his debut in a three-man defence, joining Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Alessandro Bastoni.
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Norway are already top of Group I with six points after two games, while Italy are yet to play a qualifier due to reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Nations League back in March when they bowed out to Germany, 5-4 over two legs. After failing to get out of the group stage in back-to-back World Cups (2010 and 2014, after champions in 2006), the Azzurri have regressed even further by failing to even reach the final tournament in 2018 and 2022. They did, of course, use those qualifying failures to bookend the European Championship trophy at EURO 2020, but Luciano Spalletti’s mandate is clear: return Italy to the world’s biggest stage.
2026 is an equally unmissable target for Norway as it is Italy, with Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard trying to lead their country to its first World Cup appearance since 1998 and just their fourth all time. Norway won promotion to the top tier of the Nations League back in November, so the Røde, Hvite, Blå (Red, White and Blue) are clearly gaining ground on the rest of the continent and should be expected, at minimum, to finish top-two in the group and reach the playoff round. A massive, almost must-win for Italy in game no. 1, and an incredible opportunity for Norway to continue their dominant start (+7 goal difference) and take charge with a win.
Italy CT Luciano Spalletti has been forced to make several changes to the original squad, seeing Alessandro Buongiorno, Matteo Gabbia, Manuel Locatelli and Moise Kean pulling out of the squad due to injuries, while Francesco Acerbi refused to play for the national team, not feeling part of Spalletti’s project.
Hellas Verona defender Coppola, 21, is expected to make his debut in a three-man defence, joining Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Alessandro Bastoni.