Nine goals and many (too many) thrills. The Azzurri suffer, risk saying goodbye to their World Cup dream, but in the end they get the three points and catch up with Israel (who have played one more game) in the standings.

A crazy Italy, with a leaky defense and the wrong attitude at the start, beats Israel 5-4 and remains in the running for first place in the group. Tomorrow evening, Norway will most likely extend their lead again as they face the “weak” Moldova at home, but now we are second, tied with Ben Shimon’s team, whom we had always beaten since 1970. We take the three points with unprecedented suffering and risk hurting ourselves with our own hands. Because we made too many mistakes from the waist up and gifted them two own goals. We were saved by goals from Kean, who scored a splendid brace, Politano, Raspadori, and above all Tonali, who scored the spectacular 5-4 after we had allowed the Israelis to come back from 4-2 to 4-4 in two minutes, from the 87th to the 89th minute. Unbelievable… In short, a crazy game, even illogical in some respects, but we are certainly still alive in the race for top spot in the group. And we have a big heart because after the 4-4 we kept trying until the end. Gattuso has six points from his first two games and has found the “right” strike partnership: Kean-Retegui.
Not bad as a calling card after his first two games as coach. In a semi-deserted stadium, with just 2,300 spectators despite 20,000 seats, Israel played with black armbands to remember the victims of the terrorist attack (claimed by Hamas) in Jerusalem.
Ben Shimon fields a 3-4-2-1 formation, but in reality, our opponents close down to five at the back and leave no one up front. When in possession, however, false nine Gloukh drops back and is often replaced by Dor Peretz, but the key player is Biton, who starts on the right and causes chaos for the Azzurri. Gattuso, on the other hand, opted for a 4-4-2 formation with two changes from Friday: Mancini came in at center back (replacing Calafiori), one attacking winger was dropped (the injured Zaccagni) and an extra central midfielder was brought on (Locatelli); Retegui and Kean were confirmed as the two strikers. Physically, we are superior, and we also have much more to offer in terms of technique and international experience, but our approach to the match is not the right one, and we pay the price with a bad start in which the Israelis put us in crisis. Our formation is unbalanced because we don’t have a left midfielder (in the 4-4-2) and because when we attack, with the 4-3-3, there is no one wide on the left. Israel takes advantage of this to pass the ball around with confidence and personality, switching play and inserting themselves into the spaces created by the constant movement of the attacking players. Perhaps we didn’t expect them to be so brave. We certainly made mistakes we didn’t make against Estonia, even when the score was 0-0. And so when Ben Shimon’s team took the lead after 15 minutes thanks to an own goal by Locatelli from a cross by Biton (lost by Tonali), no one could say anything: Israel deserved it for their build-up play and attitude. In fact, they could have scored earlier with a save by Bastoni on Biton and an own goal by Donnarumma from a Solomon corner, which was canceled out by a foul on our goalkeeper by Lemkin. Israel attacked the space and we, without cover on the left, suffered terribly. It was a question of tactics, but also of spirit, which was different from that in Bergamo, as were the pace and concentration. Italy had its first chance with a shot from Retegui deflected by Nachmias for a corner, then Locatelli hit the crossbar off a pass from Retegui and Kean shot wide off a cross from Mancini. Gattuso reorganizes his team a little and the Azzurri grow: a diagonal shot by Tonali grazes the net, but Kean finds it, on a pass from Barella to Retegui who sets up the former Viola player, who is relentless with his right foot. Before returning to the locker room, Biton tried again, but Donnarumma was there. At halftime, we had more possession (58%) and more shots (7-4), but we only hit the target once, on the 1-1 goal.

Crazy Italy—  The second half starts well for Italy again, and a high recovery by Tonali allows Locatelli to serve Kean, who shoots on target: Peretz performs a miracle. The Azzurri’s lead seems in the air, but instead it is Israel who scores: Somolon disorients Politano, accelerates past Locatelli and centers for Dor Peretz, who is free between Mancini and Bastoni. Another huge mistake by our defense. Gattuso shouts and urges his players to react immediately, and luckily, a few seconds after their 2-1 lead, on a long pass that Retegui fails to touch, Kean invents the 2-2 shot, with Shlomo disoriented. It’s Moise’s tenth goal with Italy. They make as many mistakes as we do, if not more, and in fact, five minutes after the equalizer, Politano puts our national team ahead (3-2) on an assist from Retegui. Ben Shimon has to make a change and brings on Baribo, Jehezkel, and Mizrahi all at once to switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Baribo as center forward and Dor Peretz as attacking midfielder rather than inside forward. Gattuso responds by bringing on Frattesi and Orsolini for Barella and Politano. Tactically, the formation remains 4-4-2, but the intention is to bring on fresh legs. Retegui fails to convert a fine cross from Dimarco with his head. We are caught out by a cross from Solomon that is deflected by Di Lorenzo and saved by Donnarumma, then by a shot from outside the box by Eliel Peretz. Di Lorenzo saves almost on the line and Donnarumma prevents the score from becoming 3-3. Gattuso makes two more decisive substitutions: Cambiaso and Raspadori come on, and ‘Raspa’ makes it 4-2 from Frattesi’s assist, with Cambiaso winning the ball back at the start of the move. Once again, the former Napoli player scores shortly after coming on, just like against Estonia. Was it over? Not even close, because we made another big mistake at the back and Bastoni scored an own goal to make it 4-3 from Revivo’s cross. We wanted to control the game, with Maldini coming on for Retegui, but another defensive blunder allowed Dor Peretz to make it 4-4. Italy seemed to be sinking into the abyss, but in stoppage time, Tonali saved us when he received the ball from Cambiaso and scored with a shot-cross to make it 5-4. Crazy! After eight minutes of stoppage time, we are still in the running for first place, but what a struggle.