Chaos reigns as Gattuso's Italy scrambles to avoid missing a 3rd straight World Cup

Italy’s 5-4 victory over Israel in a World Cup qualifier was, Gattuso acknowledged, “the craziest game I’ve been involved with as a coach.”

“But that’s my fault and not down to the players,” Gattuso added. “If we want to play in a certain way, we need to get better at this. We were crazy to systematically go on the attack. That’s what Israel was waiting for. They hit us on the counter every time.”

Italy helped Israel with two own goals for the opponent, and Monday’s game wasn’t decided until Sandro Tonali’s curled winner in stoppage time.

Still, it was a victory and three more points after Italy also scored a handful of goals in Gattuso’s debut in charge, a 5-0 win over Estonia on Friday.

Italy on course for another playoff

The results meant that Italy leapfrogged Israel into second place in their qualifying group. Norway, which was hosting Moldova on Tuesday, leads the group with a perfect 12 points from four games. Italy is next with nine points from four games followed by Israel with nine points from five games — trailing on goal differential.

Winning the group is the only way to ensure direct qualification to next year’s tournament in North America. The second-placed team goes into the playoffs, the stage where Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia and ruled out of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.

But at least Italy, which started qualifying with a 3-0 loss at Norway, is now in position to make the playoffs.

Assuming that Erling Haaland’s Norway continues to cruise, four-time champion Italy needs to be perfect in its remaining qualifiers and vastly improve its goal differential — the first tiebreaker — before a likely decisive final group game against Norway at the San Siro in November.

Norway’s goal differential entering Tuesday’s game was +11 while Italy’s was +5.

Calafiori benching questioned

Gattuso was criticized for benching Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori against Israel, with center backs Gianluca Mancini and Alessandro Bastoni unable to stop Manor Solomon from slaloming his way through the Azzurri defense.

Napoli center back Alessandro Buongiorno was unavailable due to injury, and veteran Francesco Acerbi’s days with Italy appear done after he turned down a call up for the Norway match under Spalletti.

There were also glaring mistakes from new Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli.

“We’re a crazy team, because we’re too fragile, we concede ridiculous goals too easily,” Gattuso said. “The guys know that. But this is my problem, not theirs. My staff and I need to figure out solutions.”

Gattuso likened the match to the wild 2005 Champions League final, when the AC Milan team he played for squandered a 3-0 halftime lead and lost to Liverpool in a penalty shootout.

“We need to learn that these matches are never finished,” Gattuso said.

10 goals in 2 matches

On the positive side, Gattuso has several in-form forwards.

Mateo Retegui scored two goals and provided three assists in two matches; Moise Kean scored three goals and Giacomo Raspadori scored two and assisted on two off the bench.

But reverting to a traditional 4-4-2 featuring both Retegui and Kean left Italy unbalanced.

“Nearly nobody in modern soccer plays with two strikers, but we’re sticking with them and we’re pleased with what they’ve produced — and not just in terms of goals scored,” Gattuso said.

It marked the first time that Italy — which has traditionally been known for its defensive tactics — scored five goals in consecutive matches.

Gattuso was Tonali's idol

Another positive takeaway was the growing leadership provided by Tonali, who as a kid modeled his game after Andrea Pirlo and Gattuso.

“It’s inspirational for me,” Tonali said, “to work with a coach who has always been my reference point.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer