Italy comes together at Spalletti’s farewell.

Italy is a powder keg. The coach, Luciano Spalletti, bid farewell with a victory against Moldova (2-0, with goals from Raspadori and Cambiaso) that partly restores the image of a team that fell decisively to Norway last Friday (3-0), leading to Spalletti’s dismissal. “The president informed me that I will be relieved of my duties as national team coach. I had no intention of resigning. When things aren’t going well, I prefer to stay in my position and keep doing my job. But well, it’s a dismissal and I have to accept it. I have a very good relationship with Gravina and I must take it on,” Spalletti stated after the defeat to Norway.

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Gianluigi Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Alessandro Bastoni, Luca Ranieri (Diego Coppola, min. 83), Andrea Cambiaso, Samuele Ricci (Barella, min. 45), Sandro Tonali, Dimarco (Riccardo Orsolini, min. 45), Davide Frattesi, Giacomo Raspadori (Daniel Maldini, min. 76) and Mateo Retegui (Lorenzo Lucca, min. 71)

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Cristian Avram, Daniel Dumbravanu, Vladislav Baboglo, Sergiu Platica, Victor Mudrac, Oleg Reabciuk, Mihail Caimacov (Victor Stîna, min. 65), Artur Ionita (Cristian Dros, min. 71), Stefan Bodisteanu, Ion Nicolaescu and Virgiliu Postolachi (Sergiu Perciun, min. 66)

Goals 1-0 min. 40: Giacomo Raspadori. 2-0 min. 49: Andrea Cambiaso.

Referee Urs Schnyder

Yellow cards Ion Nicolaescu (min. 70) and Davide Frattesi (min. 84)

The coach, however, sat on the bench to deliver a final service by defeating Moldova. A key victory, although with very poor play from the Italians, who are far from a Norway that shows no mercy in this group I. The Nordics, who defeated Estonia 0-1 with a goal from Haaland, lead with three wins in three matches (9 points), Israel is second with six points from three matches, while Italy is third with three points after two encounters. Right now, the Italian team, which has already missed the last two World Cups in Russia and Qatar, is out of the major event next year. Spalletti led Italy to the last Euro Cup, won by Spain, but they fell in the round of 16 against Switzerland (2-0) and gave a rather discreet performance.

Croatia opened its World Cup qualifying campaign with a great victory against the Czech Republic (5-1). Modric scored the second goal for the Croats, from a penalty. A thrilling match between Belgium and Wales (4-3). The Belgians took a 3-0 lead and the British team managed to equalize at three. De Bruyne scored Belgium’s fourth goal in the 88th minute. An important victory for Belgium, now in third place, although they have only played two matches compared to four for Macedonia and Wales, first and second in group J of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, respectively.