Italy Vs Northern Ireland [2-0] – 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification Playoff Semi-Final – Tactical Analysis

Italy faced Northern Ireland at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Playoff semi-finals, and Italy secured their advancement to the playoff final with a 2-0 win.

This qualification was crucial for Italy to gain more confidence and be better prepared for the finals, as they still have nightmares about the World Cup playoffs and needed a win to confirm their ability to beat opponents in these playoffs and avoid failing like in previous editions.

On a mental level, the win over Northern Ireland will certainly give the team a boost ahead of the second match, which will surely be more complicated as they are away to Bosnia & Herzegovina.

On the other hand, Northern Ireland failed to achieve their objective.

They struggled to surprise Italy with counterattacks and failed to convert set-pieces into dangerous opportunities.

The match marks Northern Ireland’s end of the qualification journey to the World Cup, with disappointment over their failure to qualify for this World Cup edition after having finished third in relatively complicated Group A.

In this tactical analysis, we focus mainly on Italy’s attacking solutions and how they broke Northern Ireland’s defence through surprising long passes, exploitation of second balls, and reliance on vertical passing in the second half.

Italy Vs Northern Ireland Lineups & Formations

Gennaro Gattuso preferred to start the match in a 3-5-2 formation, with Gianluigi Donnarumma as goalkeeper and a defensive trio of Riccardo Calafiori, Alessandro Bastoni, and Gianluca Mancini.

The midfield consisted of Manuel Locatelli, Sandro Tonali, and Nicoló Barella, with both Federico Dimarco and Matteo Politano playing as wing-backs.

In attack, the Azzurri relied on an attacking duo made up of Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean, before Francesco Pio Esposito was subbed on for Retegui in the second half.

On the other side, Michael O’Neill chose to start the match in a 5-4-1 formation, with Pierce Charles as the goalkeeper, right behind a back three of Trai Hume, Paddy McNair, and Ruairi McConville, with both Brodie Spencer and Terry Devlin playing as full-backs.

In midfield, Northern Ireland relied on both Ethan Galbraith and Shea Charles as central midfielders, with Justin Devenny and Isaac Price as wingers, and Jamie Donley as the main striker.

Italy Attacking Solutions Against Northern Ireland

Italy started the match fearing a goal while trying to attack well without exposing their defence.

This meant that Italy tried to find attacking solutions without risking conceding counterattacks, and that meant attacking without advancing all of their defenders.

What limited Italy’s first-half attacking performance was mainly the slow build-up and the inability to surprise Northern Ireland’s defensive line, as Italy’s plans were usually predictable.

Italy focused heavily on advancing with the ball, mainly from the right wing, before launching long passes to either striker or switching play to Dimarco on the left wing.

Dimarco would then opt for a cross towards the box or aim for a first-time shot.

This was one of the predictable solutions Italy used in the first half, but they were not successful in applying it on the pitch.

Even though Dimarco was dangerous in one of these attempts thanks to his first-time shooting abilities, Italy were unable to be first on second balls in order to exploit the goalkeeper’s conceded second balls.

Italy First-Time Long Passes Behind Northern Ireland’s Defence

As the game progressed, Italy tried to diversify their tactics after noticing Northern Ireland’s very compact and aggressive defensive approach, which limited Italy’s threats and prevented them from reaching the box or their two strikers often.

Given that Northern Ireland relied on a high defensive line so often in this match, Italy’s midfielders were instructed to go for first-time long passes at the back of the opponent’s defensive line from time to time in order to surprise them and allow one of Retegui or Kean to receive such dangerous passes.

The following example highlights one of the first attempts to use this first-time crossing tactic, with Kean making the run towards the ball but failing to finish easily as he was disturbed by his direct marker.

In fact, both Kean and Retegui were marked tightly and disturbed, especially during the first half, and this conditioned Italy’s attacking plans, as they were mostly based on finding at least one of the two available to finish.

This surprisingly long-passing attempt, however, could have been more dangerous if Kean had made the movement beforehand in order to win time over his markers.

Italy Recurrent Long Passing Solution

Italy made similar attempts more than once but was mostly unable to make them dangerous.

At the end of the first half, Locatelli was the one who launched a first-time long pass in the direction of Retegui, with the latter moving without the ball at the right time as he was aware of Locatelli’s intention.

However, Retegui failed to fully escape his direct marker and was still closely followed by him despite scoring.

The tight marking prevented Retegui from shooting with the power he wanted; he was unable to coordinate his body well enough for a powerful shot and was limited to a weak one that was easily saved.

Although Italy’s solution helped overcome Northern Ireland’s last line of defence, both strikers were unable to beat their direct markers in the first half, a decisive factor in preventing Italy from scoring early.

Italy Kean-Retegui Chemistry

Another aspect that Italy showed on some occasions, but could have developed and relied on much further, was the chemistry and combinations between both Kean and Retegui.

The attacking duo looked very dangerous on some occasions, thanks mainly to their understanding and ability to create goal-scoring opportunities for each other.

One of these few actions started with another first-time cross, this time from Politano towards Retegui.

The picture shows Retegui’s positioning ahead of his direct marker while Kean was moving at his back.

Retegui was aware of Kean’s positioning and immediately provided him with a backward header pass while attracting a defender and giving Kean the opportunity to advance without double marking.

This type of action should have been repeated and attempted more than once, as it would have created several issues for Northern Ireland’s defenders, especially in terms of marking the two strikers.

Kean could have done better in terms of decision-making as well, since he had the possibility to create an assist for Dimarco, who joined the box and exploited the space left by Retegui to attack that area and hope for a key pass from Kean.

However, Kean opted for a shot from distance that went off target.

Mateo Retegui Crucial Miss

During the second half, Italy started with a greater desire to score but did not change their approach to the game, especially in attack.

That said, Retegui missed the chance of getting the advantage early in that second half following a crucial defensive mistake that allowed him to intercept the ball and run without marking in front of the goal.

However, he failed to advance with the ball in the right way and put it well ahead of him, which closed the goalkeeper’s shooting angle, while one of the defenders also managed to disturb him from behind.

Retegui’s ball control and finishing were not good enough in this action; he could have done much better to score from this golden opportunity.

Italy Second Ball Solution

Luckily for Italy, it did not take long for them to score the goal that gave them the advantage, thanks to Tonali’s excellent shooting.

In fact, Italy knew that Northern Ireland’s defence could be beaten thanks to their surprising passes at their back, penetrations from the wings, or exploitation of second balls.

In this goal action, Tonali was decisive and prepared enough to exploit the second ball in the right way, thanks to his positioning and readiness to shoot from distance.

What helped him further in the execution of the shot was the lack of disturbance at the moment of shooting, as he was unmarked at that moment since all of Northern Ireland’s players were busy marking the players inside the box during the cross that preceded the shot.

Italy Francesco Pio Esposito Addition & Second Decisive Goal

Esposito’s substitution made Italy even more dangerous from an attacking perspective, as he was actively involved in playmaking and drew defenders wherever he went.

He added more danger in crosses and set-pieces as well, given his outstanding abilities in the air.

This helped Italy gain more confidence in their attacking abilities and rely more on vertical passing, which resulted in the second goal.

It was a counter-attacking action that started with a clearance and a backward Kean pass, before Esposito quickly passed it to Tonali.

The latter’s assist was extremely difficult as he had to cross the ball accurately towards the direction of Kean’s run while having very little time for executing that cross due to his marker’s disturbance.

Tonali was still able to provide that pass accurately, and Kean succeeded in controlling the ball well, dribbling past his direct marker, and coordinating his body quickly enough to finish with his left foot in a surprising way.

Conclusion

Italy suffered at the start of the match, especially because Northern Ireland were compact at the back and prevented Italy from finding space, thanks to their numerical superiority.

But thanks to the exploitation of the advances of Northern Ireland’s defensive block on numerous occasions, and more importantly, thanks to the first-time crosses at the back of that defensive line, Italy were able to create dangerous opportunities and score by exploiting second balls and quick vertical passes.

The Azzurri will have to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in a tough away game to advance to the World Cup, and they will have to be much quicker in their build-up and in finding attacking solutions to secure the win.