Crazy 5-4! Tonali s decisive victory! Gattuso leads the team to win two consecutive games! Italy rekindles hope for the World Cup

On September 9, there were seven more games in the 2026 World Cup European qualifiers, and the most ups and downs were Italy's away challenge to Israel. In this game, the Italian team defeated his opponent 5-4 away with Tonali's long-range shot in the 91st minute. After Gattuso took office, he led the team to win two consecutive victories, and the Italian team saw the hope of direct access to the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup. Although the Italian team is the winner of the four World Cup, it has never participated in the World Cup since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Although the European region has also ushered in an expansion in this US, Canada and Mexico World Cup, Italy was once in a critical situation. They lost 0-3 to Norway, which was leading by Haaland in the first game. In the end, Spaletti resigned, and the 47-year-old Gattuso became the head coach of the Italian national team.

After Gattuso took office, his coaching debut was against Estonia. As a result, Italy defeated his opponent 5-0, showing terrifying offensive firepower. This time, facing the 75th-ranked Israel team in the world, the outside world thought that the Italian team could win easily, but the process of the game was ups and downs and exciting. In the 15th minute of the first half, Locatelli scored an own goal, helping Israel take a 1-0 lead. But in the final stage of the first half, Keane used Retge's assist to take a risk shot from outside the penalty area to equalize the score for the Blues. The second half was exciting, with Solomon giving a wonderful solo performance and assisting Dole Perez to score a goal, giving Israel a 2-1 lead again.

However, Italy equalized the score through a "replay", Retgee assisted again, and Keane shot from the entrance of the penalty area to tie the score to a 2-2 draw. In the 58th minute, Retge assisted with a hat-trick, helping Politano score, and Italy overtook the score 3-2. In the 81st minute, after a wonderful collective cooperation, Vlatesi passed a beautiful assist to Raspadori in the small penalty area, expanding the lead for the Blues, 4-2.

Just when everyone thought that Italy would successfully take away a victory, Bastoni scored an own goal for Israel again, and Israel tied the score to 3-4. In the 89th minute, after a header in the penalty area, Jerchzkel assisted Peretz and Israel equalized the score 4-4. This game was destined to be extraordinary. Tonali's long shot in the 91st minute helped Italy defeat his opponent 5-4, and successfully took away 3 points away.

With the arrival of this victory, Italy scored 9 points after four games and took the second place in Group I, second only to Norway (four games and 12 points). Israel scored 9 points in the same five games, but fell to third place, ahead of Estonia (3 points) and Moldova (0 points). After taking office, Gattuso led the team to win two consecutive victories, once again giving the Italian team a hope of direct access to the World Cup.