BELFAST. Northern Ireland and Italy didn’t manage to score any goal on Monday. Italy was decisively superior in terms of ball possession (71%), but that was not enough for the Italian team to win the match and qualify directly to the World Cup. Its faith will be decided at the playoff.
Italian head coach Roberto Mancini is still optimistic about the chances of his team. Mancini commented:
“We can’t do anything about it now, we have this game in March and will try to give our best. At the moment, we are struggling to score goals, despite dominating possession and the initiative. Northern Ireland put everyone in defense and we struggle to break sides like that down.
It’s a pity, because we should’ve sealed the group long before it came to this. We just need to rediscover what characterized us up until today. We had two missed penalties in the decisive matches, so that shows we had the chances to win.”
The match was played at the Windsor Park stadium in Belfast on Monday and it started at 7:45 pm local time. The referee was Istvan Kovacs with the help of Vasile Marinescu and Mihai Ovidiu Artene. The 4th official was Horațiu Mircea Feșnic. The weather was cloudy. The temperature was cold at 8.6 degrees Celsius or 47.52 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 89%.
Match Statistics
- ! 29 Ball Possession 71
Shots
- 4 Total 12
- 2 On Target 6
- 2 Off Target 4
- 0 Shots blocked 2
- 61 Attack 128
- 26 Dangerous attack 47
- 86 Ball safe 115
- 0 Penalties 0
- 3 Corners 12
- 1 Off Sides 3
Fouls
- 10 Total 11
- 2 Yellow Cards 2
- 0 Double Yellow 0
- 0 Red Card 0
Other
- 2 Substitutions 5
Ball possession
Italy had a strong ball possession 71% while Northern Ireland was struggling with a 29% ball possession.
Attitude and shots
Italy was putting more pressure with 47 dangerous attacks and 12 shots of which 6 were on target. However, that was not enough Italy to win the encounter.
Northern Ireland shot 4 times, 2 on target, 2 off target. Talking about the opposition, Italy shot 12 times, 6 on target, 3 off target.
Cards
Northern Ireland received 2 yellow cards (J. Magennis and B. Peacock-Farrell). Talking about the opposition, Italy received 1 yellow card (S. Tonali).
Match Timeline
Standings
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
After this encounter, Northern Ireland will have 9 points to hold in the 3rd place. On the opposite side, Italy will have 16 points to hold in the 2nd place.
Next matches
Northern Ireland – Formation
Northern Ireland
83'
72'
Northern Ireland started with a 5-3-2 line-up (5-3-2).
The manager Ian Baraclough decided to play with the following team: Bailey Peacock-Farrell , Stuart Dallas , Tom Flanagan , Jonny Evans , Craig Cathcart , Jamal Lewis , Alistair McCann , Steven Davis , George Saville , Gavin Whyte and Josh Magennis .
The home team had on the bench: Jordan Jones, Corry Evans , Conor Hazard, Conor Washington , Niall McGinn, Ethan Galbraith, Luke Southwood, Shane Ferguson, Ciaron Brown, Dale Taylor and Conor Bradley.
Substitutions
Northern Ireland made 2 changes: G. Whyte for C. Washington (72′) and G. Saville for C. Evans (72′).
Best player: Bailey Peacock-Farrell
As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Northern Ireland was the goalkeeper: Bailey Peacock-Farrell. His rating is 8.25. He performed 6 saves.
Italy – Formation
Italy
Italy started with a aggressive line-up (4-3-3).
Roberto Mancini played with: Gianluigi Donnarumma , Giovanni Di Lorenzo , Leonardo Bonucci , Francesco Acerbi , Emerson Palmieri , Sandro Tonali , Jorginho , Nicolò Barella , Domenico Berardi , Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Chiesa .
These were the players on the bench: Gian Marco Ferrari, Bryan Cristante , Manuel Locatelli , Alessio Cragno, Gianluca Mancini, Davide Zappacosta, Giacomo Raspadori, Alex Meret, Andrea Belotti , Matteo Pessina, Federico Bernardeschi and Gianluca Scamacca .
Substitutions
Italy made 5 changes: S. Tonali for B. Cristante (46′), N. Barella for A. Belotti (64′), L. Insigne for F. Bernardeschi (68′), Jorginho for M. Locatelli (68′) and Emerson for G. Scamacca (80′).
Best player: Leonardo Bonucci
As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Italy was Leonardo Bonucci.
His rating is with 126 passes (88% accurate) and 2 key passes. He was won 3 duels out of 6. He performed 1 cross.
Results of the day
These are the results of the day in the WC Qualification Europe.
- Northern Ireland – Italy – 0-0
- Switzerland – Bulgaria – 4-0
- Austria – Moldova – 4-1
- Israel – Faroe Islands – 3-2
- Scotland – Denmark – 2-0
- Albania – Andorra – 1-0
- Poland – Hungary – 1-2
- San Marino – England – 0-10
