Italy clings to hopes of qualifying for the World Cup

The Italian national team held on to its hopes of returning to the FIFA World Cup finals, which it missed in the past two editions, after qualifying for the final of the first track of the European qualifying round for the World Cup, which will be held this summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Italian national team achieved a valuable 2-0 victory over its guest, the Northern Ireland national team, today, Thursday, in the semi-finals of this path of the European playoff qualifying for the World Cup.

The match's two goals came in the second half, with Sandro Tonali opening the scoring in the 56th minute, before Moise Kean added the second goal in the 80th minute.

The Italian national team, crowned with four World Cup titles, set a date away from home in the final round of this track, next Tuesday, with the winner of the match between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to obtain a nomination card for the World Cup.

The Italian national team was forced to play in the playoffs after finishing in second place in the ninth group standings in the qualifiers with 18 points, 6 points behind the Norwegian national team (the leader), which reached the finals, after the blue national team achieved 6 victories compared to two losses during its journey in the group.

On the other hand, the Northern Ireland team finished in third place in the first group of the qualifiers with 9 points, behind Germany and Slovakia, who were in first and second place, respectively.

The Northern Ireland national team achieved three victories in its group career, but also suffered three defeats, but it qualified for the playoffs thanks to its superiority in the special classification of the teams in the European Nations League.

It is noteworthy that the qualifiers from this path will play in the second group of the group stage in the World Cup, along with the teams of Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.