It was too much drama when Italy and Switzerland settled for first place in Group C on Monday night. After 1-1 between the teams on Friday, Italy topped the group on a better goal difference than Switzerland before the final round, when Italy visited Northern Ireland and Switzerland hosted Bulgaria.
Northern Ireland, who were unbeaten at home in the ongoing World Cup qualifier before tonight, proved to be a difficult nut to crack for Roberto Mancini’s European champions from this summer. After a goalless first half, the Northern Irish were close to taking the lead at the start of the second when Gianluigi Donnarumma saved George Saville’s finish in the penalty area.
Federico Chiesa came close to leveling the score 63 minutes into the game, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. Left-back Emerson then had a distance shot that went just outside with ten minutes left of regular time. In that situation, Italy needed to win by two goals, as Switzerland led 3-0 at home against Bulgaria.
But no Italian goal ever came after an awkward final forcing. Instead, Northern Ireland were close to 1-0 in the final minutes when Leonardo Bonucci saved a finish on the goal line.
The match ended 0-0 at the same time as Switzerland defeated Bulgaria 4-0. This means that Italy finishes second in the group and is forced to play play-off games in March, where Sweden is a possible opponent after Blågult finished second in their qualifying group.
– We can not do anything about it now, we have the match in March and will try to do our best, says Italy’s national team captain Roberto Mancini to the TV channel Rai according to Football-Italia.
Mancini continues:
– At the moment, we are struggling to score goals, despite the fact that we dominate ball possession and initiative. Northern Ireland put everyone on the defensive and we have a hard time breaking down such teams.
– It’s a shame, because we would have decided this group long before it came to this. We just have to rediscover what characterized us to this day. We missed two penalties in decisive matches, so it shows that we had the chances to win.
However, the national team captain does not just want to see Italy go to the World Cup. The goal is still to win the entire tournament.
– We book our World Cup place in March and then we will hopefully win the tournament as well, Mancini says.
At the moment, both Italy and Sweden are seeded in the play off, which means that the teams can not meet until a possible final. However, Sweden can still be unseeded, which will be decided after Tuesday’s World Cup qualifiers. For Sweden to go unseeded, it is necessary for Wales to defeat Belgium at the same time as Turkey defeats Montenegro by at least five goals.
The play-off draw will take place on 26 November on Fotbollskanalen. Then the play-off semi-finals will be played on 24/25 March with finals on 28/29 March.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know before Sweden’s play off
Startelvor:
Northern Ireland: Peacock-Farrell – Cathcart, Flanagan, J. Evans, Lewis – S. Davis – Dallas, McCann, Saville, Whyte – Magennis.
Italy: Donnarumma – Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Acerbi, Emerson – Tonali, Jorginho, Barella – Berardi, Insigne, Chiesa.
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