Italy vs Moldova

Struggling from a bad opening of their 2026 World Cup qualifying, Italy will aim to turn things around by beating Moldova this Monday.

A disaster game that ended in a 3-0 loss to Norway puts Italy in the position of possibly suffering another stressful playoff game to make it to the next World Cup, since they have not qualified for two tournaments straight.

Italy enjoyed plenty of possession at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion, but still gave a conservative answer to Norway’s strong performance of three goals in the first half of the match.

Many times stung on defense, Italy did not look threatening in attack, with substitute forward Lorenzo Lucca coming up with the only shot on target.

With only seven games left, it seems very likely that Inter Milan will not qualify for next year’s tournament because they are now nine points short of their Norwegian opponents, who have played two more games.

Even though Estonia and Moldova are quite far behind, Italy may end up facing Israel for the chance to go to the next World Cup, so there is a chance they will miss out on their third consecutive finals.

Because they were eliminated in Brazil 2014 in the group stage, the four-time winners truly want to participate in the upcoming World Cup.

Spalletti is setting off after La Nazionale was beaten by Sweden when traveling to Russia and lost notoriously to North Macedonia before Qatar 2022.

Speaking to the press immediately after the match in Reggio Emilia, ex-Napoli coach now says goodbye, as a crisis meeting was due to happen on Monday.

After a timid exit from Euro 2024 and a Nations League quarter-final defeat, Italy’s struggles continue—hitting a new low. Now, Luciano Spalletti’s final match in charge offers a chance to start making things right.

On paper, Moldova should be no match for the Azzurri, especially playing at Sassuolo’s home ground. History isn’t on their side either: they’ve lost all four previous World Cup qualifiers against Italy, with a brutal 9-2 aggregate scoreline. Their last meeting, a friendly five years ago, ended in a humiliating 6-0 drubbing.

Currently sitting at the bottom of Group I alongside Italy—with zero points—Moldova’s qualifying campaign began disastrously: a 5-0 thrashing by Norway, followed by a painful 3-2 home defeat to Estonia. Their struggles didn’t end there—after scraping a 1-1 draw with Gibraltar late last year, they fell 2-0 to Poland in a recent friendly.

Pulling off an upset against Italy would be even more shocking than their surprise 3-2 win over Poland in Euro 2024 qualifying. But with the Azzurri looking vulnerable, Moldova might just sense an opportunity to capitalize on their opponent’s growing frustration.