Sandro Tonali has Thursday that brings good news and bad news | OneFootball

Sandro Tonali is away on international duty with Italy.

The final two World Cup group qualifiers as they hope to reach the 2026 finals.

Sandro Tonali experiencing a Thursday that brought good news and bad news.

To stand any chance of topping their group and automatically qualifying, Italy had to win away against Moldova.

They kept their side of the bargain with a 2-0 victory, Sandro Tonali playing the full match and in charge of the midfield against a very defensive home side.

However, the bad news came with Norway winning 4-1 against Estonia, four goals in a 12 minute spell in the second half, including two from the in-form Haaland, means that only mathematically can Italy top the group now.

Italy are home to Norway in the final group match on Sunday and can draw level on points with the Norwegians. However, Haaland and friends have a goal difference that is 17 goals better than Italy, so it would take a miracle and a victory by at least nine goals for Sandro Tonali and his teammates to top the group.

A much changed and weakened team last night but Italy absolutely dominated Moldova, who were ultra defensive.

Italy with 28 v 3 when it came to shots, 9 v 1 when it came to shots on target, 13 v 1 on corners, 77% possession, as well as 62 v 3 when it came to touches of the ball by players in the opposition box.

Sandro Tonali was the main man controlling the midfield but Italy found it difficult to finish the job and get the goals their dominance should have brought. It took until the 88th minute for the deadlock to be broken with Gianluca Mancini opening the scoring, then four minutes later it was Pio Esposito who made it a more realistic 2-0 away victory to reflect the dominance.

Football Italia rated only two Italy players higher than Sandro Tonali in this tricky match as he completed the full game. Awarding the Newcastle United midfielder 6 out of 10 they commented; ‘Wasn’t the easiest game for him to impress. Moldova didn’t have much possession, and often had 11 players behind the ball, which didn’t give Tonali much room to show his strength, power or drive. Didn’t put much of a foot wrong on the ball. His two tackles were the most of any Italy player.’

This is the November 2025 international schedule for Newcastle United players:

Thursday 13 November

Moldova 0 Italy 2

Sandro Tonali playing the full match in this World Cup group qualifier and though it took until the 88th minute for the away side to score, they fully deserved the eventual 2-0 win. Tonali the key figure in midfield as a much changed and weakened Italy side dominated throughout (28 v 3 on shots, 13 v 1 corners, 65 v 3 player touches of the ball in the opposition box) but struggled to convert that into goals.

Friday 14 November

Luxembourg v Germany (Nick Woltemade, Malick Thiaw) World Cup group qualifier

England U21s v Republic of Ireland U21s (Lewis Miley, Lewis Hall) U21s European Championship group qualifier

Saturday 15 November

Brazil v Senegal (Bruno Guimaraes) Friendly at neutral venue (Emirates Stadium)

Switzerland v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group qualifier

Sunday 16 November

Italy v Norway (Sandro Tonali) World Cup group qualifier

Monday 17 November

Albania v England (Dan Burn) World Cup group qualifier

Germany v Slovakia (Nick Woltemade, Malick Thiaw) World Cup group qualifier

Tuesday 18 November

Sweden v Slovenia (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group qualifier

Brazil v Tunisia (Bruno Guimaraes) Friendly at neutral venue (Lille)