Italy are hoping to avoid the catastrophic fate of three successive World Cup absences as they take on Bosnia-Herzegovina in their play-off final to book a place for this summer's edition in the US.
Bosnia-Herzegovina have home advantage for this one and are coming off the back of a win against Wales in Cardiff. An even game in the Welsh capital saw the visitors equalise in the 86th minute through veteran Edin Dzeko on his 147th cap, securing a 1-1 draw. Extra time saw no further drama so the game went to penalties, where Bosnia-Herzegovina displayed superior quality to come out 4-2 winners.
As expected, the players and fans were on cloud nine following the win, but they still have it all to do to qualify. Concerningly, Bosnia-Herzegovina's home record hasn't been particularly convincing in recent years. In their last ten games, the Balkan side's only wins have come against Romania, San Marino and Cyprus, while games against Austria, Hungary, Ukraine and Slovakia have resulted in defeat. They've failed to score in only two of their last ten at home, however, so they do pose a reasonable threat.
Italy, meanwhile, enter this game off the back of a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Bergamo. The Italians dominated the game and found a way through a stubborn Northern Ireland side early in the second half via Sandro Tonali, before Moise Kean, who now has five goals in four starts in qualifying, sealed the win ten minutes from time.
It's hard to believe that Italy's last World Cup game was in 2014, and even more mind boggling is that their last World Cup knockout game was the 2006 World Cup final. Unsurprisingly, the team seems to be bound by years of World Cup-related trauma at this point, so qualification to break the duck is essential.
They enter this game in very good form, winning seven of their last eight games. Gennaro Gattuso's side have scored at least two goals in all seven of those wins and have scored three or more goals in four of those seven outings, so they aren't short of competent attacking options. They've also kept a clean sheet in five of their last eight, so their defence is plenty reliable too.
Ultimately, Italy should have too much quality for Bosnia-Herzegovina and while they have a recent history of play-off failure, it's very hard to imagine Italy missing three World Cups on the bounce.
Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-2 Italy
