How Gattuso prepared Italy for Israel clash after hammering Estonia 5-0 | OneFootball

Gennaro Gattuuso claimed a 5-0 victory in his first match as head coach of the Italy national team, but faces a short turnaround before the next World Cup qualifier against Israel on Monday night. Here is what the CT has done to prepare his players for their next international test.

The Azzurri are preparing to take on Israel in their fourth 2026 World Cup qualifier on Monday evening. Italy are currently third in the group with six points after three games. Israel are second with nine after four matches, while Norway lead the standings with a perfect record of 12 points from four matches.

Italy fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Norway on June 6, which led to the departure of Luciano Spalletti as CT and the subsequent appointment of Gattuso. Italy have since gone on to win both of their last two World Cup qualifiers.

BERGAMO, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 05: Alessandro Bastonicelebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s fifth goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Estonia at Stadio di Bergamo on September 05, 2025 in Bergamo. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)

How Gattuso is preparing Italy for Israel clash

The Nazionale have had two more training sessions since their 5-0 win over Estonia on Friday night.

A limited set of players trained on Saturday: The 11 starters against Estonia were all in recovery mode. They were: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Riccardo Calafiori, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella, Sandro Tonali, Matteo Politano, Moise Kean, Mattia Zaccagni and Mateo Retegui.

BERGAMO, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 05: Players singing during the National Anthem ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match against  Estonia at Stadio di Bergamo on September 05, 2025 in Bergamo. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)

The Azzurri players were also brought in for a long video analysis session to prepare for their upcoming test against Israel.

The players have since trained again on Sunday morning, and are due to fly out to Debrecen, Hungary, where the Israel match will take place, at around 14.30 BST.

According to Corriere dello Sport, there are no major injury or fitness concerns, aside from Gianluca Scamacca, who withdrew from the squad before the Estonia match due to an issue with his knee. Updates confirm that Mattia Zaccagni worked separately in the gym on Sunday, but otherwise, everyone else trained as usual.

The only worries are disciplinary, with Bastoni and Davide Frattesi both carrying yellow cards.

BERGAMO, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 05: Alessandro Bastoni of Italy in action during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Estonia at Stadio di Bergamo on September 05, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)

The players who did train on Sunday were separated into two groups for part of the session. One included Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Riccardo Calafiori, Federico Gatti, Andrea Cambiaso, Sandro Tonali, Nicolo Barella, Nicolo Rovella, Giovanni Fabbian, Daniel Maldini, Mateo Retegui and Francesco Pio Esposito.

The other group was made up of Alessandro Bastoni, Gianluca Mancini, Giovanni Leoni, Raoul Bellanova, Federico Dimarco, Manuel Locatelli, Davide Frattesi, Matteo Politano, Riccardo Orsolini, Giacomo Raspadori and Moise Kean.

The team also took part in a training match against Empoli’s Primavera side according to updates from ANSA.

In terms of tactics, Gattuso is expected to contine with either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, as it was against Estonia. There had been suggestions that the CT was looking at deploying a 4-4-2 for his first match in charge, but that now appears unlikely for the Israel game, as Gattuso is not inclined to change the tactics of a winning team.