{"id":3904,"date":"2026-03-19T21:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/?p=3904"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:05:49","slug":"italy-lose-some-pieces-ahead-of-the-world-cup-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/?p=3904","title":{"rendered":"Italy Lose Some Pieces Ahead of the World Cup Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-110662\">\n<div class=\"img-cntr\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-320x213.jpg.webp 320w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-414x276.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-630x420.jpg.webp 630w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-768x512.jpg.webp 768w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-770x513.jpg.webp 770w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-900x600.jpg.webp 900w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-1200x800.jpg.webp 1200w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-1536x1024.jpg.webp 1536w,https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ss-lazio-v-atalanta-bc-coppa-italia-2048x1365.jpg.webp 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1340px) 836px, (min-width:961px) 60vw, 85vw\"><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content article-body clearfix\">\n<p>\t\t<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>Gennaro Gattuso won\u2019t have the whole pool at his disposal while picking players for the upcoming crucial World Cup play-offs, where Italy will face Northern Ireland and eventually Bosnia or Wales if they prevail in the first match.<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>Sky<\/em>, the <em>Azzurri<\/em> received good news on Sandro Tonali, who bowed out due to a groin problem versus Barcelona. His problem is minor, and he has good chances of recovering in time.<\/p>\n<p>The gaffer had pre-selected Marco Verratti, but he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. Mattia Zaccagni strained two thigh muscles due to a contusion in the recent Milan clash and will be sidelined for a month or so. Antonio Vergara was in line for his maiden call-up, but he\u2019s nursing a plantar fascia strain that will keep him on the shelf for a while.<\/p>\n<p>The Italy boss is hopeful Alessandro Bastoni and Moise Kean will make it out unscathed in their next fixtures after dealing with knocks. The Fiorentina star has been routinely hindered by ankle and tibia issues this year. Instead, Giacomo Raspadori returned from a thigh strain against Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n<p>Verratti being unavailable and the uncertainty about Tonali improve Davide Frattesi and Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli\u2019s chances of making the squad. Matteo Politano has an edge over Federico Chiesa, who\u2019s not playing a lot, Nicol\u00f2 Zaniolo, and Domenico Berardi to round out the wing thanks to his versatility and familiarity with the group. Federico Bernadeschi, Riccardo Orsolini, and Daniel Maldini are competing for one or two spots in the same role as well. Instead, Giorgio Scalvini and Diego Coppola will complete the defense, and Francesco Pio Esposito and Gianluca Scamacca will add depth up front.<\/p>\n<table class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color: #ebf5ff;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 60px; border: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload lazyload center aligncenter\" style=\"width: 40px;\" src=\"https:\/\/icdn.cultofcalcio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Google_News_icon.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 0px; text-align: center;\"><strong>Follow us on <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Google News<\/span> for more updates on Serie A and Italian football<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- .entry-footer --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cultofcalcio.com\/italy-lose-some-pieces-ahead-of-the-world-cup-playoffs\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gennaro Gattuso won\u2019t have the whole pool at his disposal while picking players for the upcoming crucial World Cup play-offs, where Italy will face Northern Ireland and eventually Bosnia or Wales if they prevail in the first match. According to Sky, the Azzurri received good news on Sandro Tonali, who bowed out due to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-notizie-di-calciomercato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.matteocoachperformance.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}