Northern Ireland's World Cup hopes rest on a Thursday night tie in Bergamo as they take on Italy in the first round of play-off ties for the 2026 World Cup.
The Italians have home advantage in this tie, which they'll feel is significant. Despite coming second to Norway in the group stage, their form heading into this one is decent on whole, with six wins from their last seven outings.
Italy's games tend to be quite high-event, with eight of their last ten seeing over 2.5 goals scored. Their home form is also good, with only Germany, France and Norway beating them in Italy from their last ten outings.
These two teams have met five times historically and Italy have won every head-to-head meeting, and they'll confident of maintaining that record this week.
Northern Ireland have qualified for the World Cup only once in their history, so it would be nothing short of a historic achievement for them to book their ticket to the US this summer.
It will take a huge performance though, and their form has tailed off a bit recently, with three defeats from their last five games. Their away form is even more concerning too, with Michael O'Neill's side losing four of their last five games on the road, winning only one of their last nine.
They also have to go to Italy without star player Conor Bradley, who is out injured for the rest of the season. Bradley is a huge part of the way the team plays, so his absence will be sorely felt.
Northern Ireland had an excellent qualifying campaign but they've been handed one of the toughest possible draws in the play-offs, and that will likely prove fatal to their chances of making a first World Cup finals appearance since 1958.
Italy 3-1 Northern Ireland
