Italy team enters the 2026 World Cup play-off final

The Northern Irish team set a goal to win a ticket to the World Cup for the first time since 1986, but the goals in the second half of Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean extinguished their hopes. However, Michael O'Neill's team still caused no small difficulties for the opponent for most of their away time.

Italy is under great pressure in the race to win a World Cup spot after two recent misses. They will continue their journey with a confrontation with Wales or Bosnia & Herzegovina to compete for a tournament spot.

Northern Ireland stubbornly held on in the first half at Bergamo, despite the intense pressure from the home team right after the opening whistle. A cross hit the post of the goal, before goalkeeper Pierce Charles excellently saved Federico Dimarco's shot in the first 10 minutes.

Ethan Galbraith created a rare noteworthy situation for Northern Ireland with a counter-attack, but his shot was diverted and easily caught by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Italy increased pressure right at the beginning of the second half. Mateo Retegui missed a good opportunity before Charles continued to deny Kean's shot with an accurate dive.

Price's header error opened up an opportunity for Tonali, who quickly finished into the right corner of the goal, breaking the deadlock for the home team in the 56th minute.

From that moment on, Italy completely controlled the game and did not give the opponent a chance to reverse the situation. Northern Ireland was almost powerless in attack, while Charles continued to have another save against Kean.

Although Kean's subsequent "light kick" went wide of the goal, he still managed to make his mark by controlling the high ball in the penalty area and then finishing, sealing the victory for Italy in the 80th minute.