Italy s cursed journey! World Cup preliminaries opponent draws on the 20th, Gattuso can t think of three things

After the Azzurri were double beaten by Norway, this year's World Cup preliminaries once again fell into the abyss of the play-offs. Italy fell here in the first two attempts and missed two consecutive World Cups. This is a great shame for Italian football, which has 4 World Cups. Now that Gattuso is temporarily in charge, he can avoid the previous humiliation and compete for the United States, Canada and Mexico World Cup through the play-offs.

According to UEFA's official arrangements, the play-off draw will be held on November 20. At that time, Italy will officially know who their opponent in the play-off semi-finals is. The significance of this draw is for Italy. The opponents it faces are not fuel-saving lamps. No matter which team it is, it is a life-or-death battle. After the qualifiers, 16 teams in the European region will be selected for the play-offs: 12 second-placed teams in the group and 4 teams from the UEFA Nations League that performed well but did not advance directly. They will eventually be divided into 4 independent play-off teams to compete. Each group will play two single-game knockout matches in the semi-finals and finals. Only 1 qualifying team will be produced in each group, and a total of 4 teams will go to the World Cup through the play-offs.

And Italy, being placed in one of the groups, is a seeded team, which means they have home field advantage in the semifinals. But will the final be at home? That depends on the luck of the draw. According to "Transfer Market", if Italy advances to the final, the game will either continue to be held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, or it will go directly to the opponent's territory. In other words, the home court is safe for the semifinals, but the finals are entirely up to God.

Potential opponents in the playoff semi-finals: Choose 1 out of 5, none of them are easy to mess with. Italy's opponents will come from several teams in pot four. Although these are not European giants in the traditional sense, they are all difficult to deal with: Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland, Wales and North Macedonia. Especially the reappearance of North Macedonia's name sent shivers down the spines of many Italian fans. In the last World Cup, it was this team that ended Italy's hopes in the play-offs and became the biggest dark horse.

If you advance to the finals, your opponent will be even tougher! The potential matchups are all against strong teams: Hungary, Czech Republic, Scotland, Slovakia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Ukraine. These teams have different characteristics, but they have only one thing in common: they are difficult to play against anyone. For Italy, which has not yet emerged from its downturn, any opponent can pose a huge threat. On paper, Italy has home advantage in the semi-finals, which is certainly a boon for the Azzurri. However, Italy's play-off history does not give people much confidence: in the 2018 World Cup, they lost to Sweden in the play-offs and missed Russia; in the 2022 World Cup, they lost to North Macedonia in the play-offs and missed Qatar.

UEFA has announced the play-off time: semi-finals: March 26, 2026; final: March 31, 2026. This interval is only 5 days. Come on, 4-star Italy.