Mateo Retegui, a nationalized Argentine, created and scored the two goals that freed Italy from nightmareat least for the moment. Because Italy’s World Cup qualifications have become a recurring nightmare since 2017, an ominous decade, two World Cups outside the final phase and a mountain of anguish for the footballers who yesterday in Udine had to play for half a ticket to the World Cup in the United States amid the boycott of their fans, revolting like so many citizens of the country against the presence of the Israel team. A massive demonstration, between 10,000 and 14,000 people, walked through the streets of the capital of Friuli to protest against the celebration of a match that legitimized the team of a country that in recent months embarked on a war of extermination. The wave of optimism driving Trump’s peace plan did not faze the protesters who condemned the massacre of almost 70,000 people in Gaza and left the field half empty and the players with a gloomy sense of dislocation.
3
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Gianluca Mancini, Riccardo Calafiori, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Nicolò Barella, Manuel Locatelli (Bryan Cristante, min. 85), Sandro Tonali (Roberto Piccoli, min. 92), Federico Dimarco, Andrea Cambiaso (Leonardo Spinazzola, min. 84), Mateo Retegui (Nicolò Cambiaghi, min. 91) and Giacomo Raspadori (Francesco Pio Esposito, min. 45)
0
Omri Glazer, Matan Baltaxa, Eli Dasa (Guy Mizrahi, min. 88), Or Blorian, Roy Revivo, Eliel Peretz (Mohamed Abu Fani, min. 74), Oscar Gloukh, Dan Biton, Anan Khalaili (Stav Turiel, min. 72), Manor Solomon (Yarden Shua, min. 88) y Tai Baribo (Dor Turgeman, min. 71)
Goals
1-0 min. 46: Mateo Retegui. 2-0 min. 73: Mateo Retegui. 3-0 min. 92: Gianluca Mancini
Referee Clement Turpin
yellow cards
Dan Biton (min. 41), Sandro Tonali (min. 87), Barella (min. 93)
The match was played in a dystopian setting. He remembered the pandemic. Empty stands, deserted lower ring, less than 10,000 tickets sold, all in locations far from the field, and protests outside. “The fans Those who buy tickets are heroes and we thank them, respecting those who stay outside and perhaps demonstrate,” said Rino Gattuso, the Italian coach, on Monday. “Seeing the images of Gaza, a river of people returning to their land, I have felt a beautiful emotion.”
Outside the Udine stadium there were incidents between protesters and the police while inside the venue the match took place in a desolate atmosphere. The cheers of the fans could barely be heard. The anguished voices of the footballers prevailed. Without the contagious emotion of the fans, without the festive and threatening heat of the crowd, the match became a stressful administrative procedure to try to add three points that would ensure second place in Group I – with the right to a play-off – and at the same time wait for the dream of overtaking Haaland’s unstoppable Norway, now first with three more points with two days left in a direct duel. It became evident that the weight of responsibility hit the Italians hardest.
Forced to attack to maintain the status of favorites assigned to them by the weight of their record – four World Cup titles in their showcases -, forced to prevail as locals, and burdened by the shame of not having qualified for the last two World Cups, the tension took hold of the legs of Locatelli and his teammates. They did not connect three passes in a row once they entered the Israeli field. There were so many people in the area defended by goalkeeper Glazer that to advance, pinpoint precision was necessary. A finesse that did not characterize Barella, Retegui and Raspadori, and that in the long run reinforced the self-esteem of their rivals, launched into the counterattack. Israel was able to take the lead with shots from Gloch and Slomon. The stick and Donnarumma avoided it. If the referee had not judged with extreme rigor a contact by Baltaxa on Retegui in the 45th minute, things would have escalated towards the inconceivable in the second half. But Turpin gave a penalty, Retegui scored it, and the Azzurri breathed again.
England yes, Portugal no
Israel dominated the second half until Retegui stole the ball from Turiel and, with the entire defense on the other foot, placed the shot into the top corner. It was a great goal and it was a bit of a job. It was followed, with Israel already collapsed, by Mancini’s 3-0. It helps Italy to secure the play-off on the night that saw the first European team qualify for the 2026 World Cup. It was England, who beat Estonia 0-5 and completed six victories in six days. Portugal, which tied with Hungary (2-2) in Group F, fell just short.
