Twelve years that Italy has been waiting for this, and the beginning of the dream (or the end of the nightmare, it depends) is finally within reach for the Squadra Azzurra. Deprived of World Cups since 2014, the Italians beat Northern Ireland (2-0) Thursday in Bergamo, in the semi-final of the play-offs. They will go to Bosnia on Tuesday to get one of the last four tickets promised to the European Nations for the next World Cup on the American continent.
Long held in check, the Nazionale finally got out of this quagmire thanks to goals from Sandro Tonali (56th) and Moise Kean (80th).
But the task will not be easy in Bosnia, contrary to what the Italian players seemed to believe, caught in the act of celebrating in front of their TV seeing Bosnia win on penalties against Wales (1-1; 4 tab to 2); local fans are already promising hell to the four-time world champion (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006).
Kosovo and Turkey, Sweden and Poland, and the Czech Republic and Denmark will compete – also on Tuesday – for the other three tickets to the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. As for the French team, it now knows that its third opponent in the group stage will be either Iraq or Bolivia, victorious over Suriname on Thursday evening in the semi-final.
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