Italy, playoff debate heats up: possible opponents for the Azzurri in focus | OneFootball

With Norway's resounding victory over Israel, Italy seems increasingly condemned, once again, to the playoffs for qualification to the next World Cup. The dream of direct qualification has not yet faded, although Gattuso's team will need a true sporting miracle to avoid the playoff scenario.

Italy, Azzurri (probably) condemned once again to the playoffs: an overview of possible opponents

Despite the excellent performance in Estonia, where Italy won 3-1 against the hosts, Gattuso's team cannot fully smile due to their standings situation. Gattuso's team, in fact, with one game less, is 6 points behind Haaland's team and company. Moreover, condemning Italy is the clear superiority of the Scandinavians in goal difference, which shows a difference of 19 goals between the two teams.

For this reason, once the match with Israel is archived, Italy will be able to focus solely and exclusively on the potential playoffs, which will be held in March 2026. For the Azzurri in the playoffs, the nightmare of Sweden could return, the team that eliminated Italy in the 2018 World Cup qualification playoffs. Watch out also for the struggling Belgium and Germany, who could surprisingly finish second in their qualification group.

The general picture of the second-placed teams

These are the possible opponents for the Italian National team:

Scotland; Ukraine, Belgium, Poland, Ireland, Bosnia, Albania, Czech Republic, Romania, Georgia, and Kosovo.

Vincenzo Schiavo

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.