The Italian national team is classified as a seeded team, so they will play the semi-finals of the play-off round (with Northern Ireland) at home tonight. However, playing at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium did not make Italian fans too happy because they could not decide their own ticket directly to the 2026 World Cup.
The tifosi are worried about the prospect that their beloved team may be absent from the World Cup for the 3rd consecutive time. In the 2018 campaign qualifiers, Italy lost to Sweden with a score of 0-1 in the play-off final right at San Siro stadium. In the 2022 qualifiers, Azzurri did not even reach the play-off final when they lost to Northern Macedonia in the semi-finals also at home.
Before the play-off semi-final, Northern Ireland has nothing to lose. Conversely, Italy will lose everything if they lose tonight. Like campaigns in 2018 and 2022, Italy is rated higher than their opponent.
Even, Azzurri won EURO 2020, not long before not being able to go to Qatar to play in the 2022 World Cup. After that, they topped the Nations League group in 2022, a group with both England and Germany. Recently, in September 2024, they defeated France 3-1 right in Paris.
Fear is enveloping Italian fans not only because of tonight's match. If they overcome Northern Ireland, their next opponent may be Wales in the play-off final.
Right now, there is no guarantee that Italy will easily beat Northern Ireland and defeat the opponent afterwards. Two matches are ahead, but just accepting defeat tonight, everything will break down immediately.
This time, the Italian Football Federation chose the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium for the confrontation with Northern Ireland instead of San Siro or Olympico. This is a stadium with a capacity of only 23,000 seats, just enough to warm up the atmosphere and ignite the fire for the players on the field.
It's also... just enough not to create too much pressure in the stands. Azzurri players are currently very fragile and if they have to bear too much pressure, playing at San Siro or Olympico can have the opposite effect.
4 years ago when playing at Palermo instead of Bergamo as they are now, the Italian players also received very enthusiastic cheers from fans.
However, everyone understands that sometimes "the 12th player" is not enough. The most important thing is still the level and combat ability of those who play directly on the field.
The current squad in the hands of coach Gennaro Gattuso, besides goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, has no real big stars. Especially in attack, world-famous strikers are now in the past. Azzurri will have to rely on Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui,... to find a way into the opponent's net. A very sad reality but the tifosi have to accept it.
At 2:45 am tomorrow morning (March 27), Italian fans will join Gattuso's team in the first life-and-death battle. If they successfully overcome the hurdle, they will continue to play the final match on April 1.
