Advertisement
Advertisement
Sandro Tonali earned Italy a thrilling 5-4 win against Israel on Monday with the decisive late strike in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier, just as it looked the Azzurri were plunging into another crisis.
Newcastle United midfielder Tonali wheeled off in celebration in stoppage time when his speculative effort went through a sea of legs and into the net to win a rollercoaster of a match in Debrecen, Hungary, which Italy looked to have thrown away.
The Azzurri, who have missed the last two World Cups, were leading 4-2 in the 81st minute when substitute Giacomo Raspadori rolled home almost immediately after replacing the impressive Moise Kean, who netted Italy’s first two goals.
However, a clumsy Alessandro Bastoni own-goal and Dor Peretz’s header drew Israel level before Tonali’s fortunate effort moved Italy up to second in Group I, level on nine points with Israel, who have played a game more, and in the play-off spot.
“We’ll take the win, which was crucial for us, but we’re completely nuts, nuts because we conceded some absurd goals,” said Gennaro Gattuso.
“We need to work on that because we’re too fragile, and we concede goals too easily. The boys know that, but this is my problem to fix.
“You have to give credit to the boys because every time they took a slap, they dared to react and fight back.”
Italy trail leaders Norway by three points and still have a chance of taking first place and the group’s sole direct qualifying spot.
Monday’s match had cast a political cloud over Gattuso’s first fixtures in charge of Italy due to Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The small group of Italian fans present turned their backs to the pitch during the Israeli national anthem, while boos also rang out from sections of the stadium, before then holding up banners which read “stop”.
And the Italians on the pitch looked equally uninterested in the match come kick-off, with Israel snappier and more aggressive than the four-time world champions.
The nominal home had already had a goal disallowed by the time Locatelli bundled Dan Biton’s cross into his own net.
Locatelli almost made up for his own-goal when he struck the bar with an acrobatic volley in the 31st minute, seconds before Kean wasted a great opportunity from a Gianluca Mancini cut-back.
But 10 minutes later, Kean thumped a low drive past Daniel Peretz after collecting a knockdown from strike partner Mateo Retegui.
And Kean came to the rescue again nine minutes after the break, levelling with another powerful low shot just seconds after Peretz put Israel ahead for the second time with a brilliant first-time effort.
Politano finally put Italy ahead with a great volley after more fine work from Retegui, and when Raspadori rolled home the fourth, it seemed the away team looked out of the woods.
But it took Tonali’s unusual winner to finally secure the three points after uncharacteristically bad defending nearly left Italy’s hopes of qualification hanging by a thread.
READ: Nottingham Forest sack head coach Nuno after rift with owner
