Rome, 20 Nov. (LaPresse) – ‘We only need to comment on the home game against Northern Ireland, we're playing for everything, then the other two teams are strong with totally different styles of play.’ This was the comment made by national football coach Gennaro Gattuso on the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifying play-offs, which sees the Azzurri face Northern Ireland at home and then a possible final away to Wales or Bosnia. As for Northern Ireland, the Azzurri coach explained: "They are very strong physically and play a lot of balls in the second half. It will be a big game, but I think we can do it. The away final? Let's think about the first game, then we know what Wales and Bosnia are like and the environment we can expect. Wales is tough, they have a stadium that pushes them on, that's their style, but also in Bosnia, they have stadiums that can cause problems for any team. We'll get through the semi-final and then see who we're up against and how to tackle them.‘ For the home game against Northern Ireland, Bergamo is looking like a more and more likely venue: ’Yes, we've talked about it with the president and everyone at the FIGC, Bergamo has come up and we'll see if we can play there," nods Gattuso.
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