Mateo Retegui stepped up with two goals, plus Gianluca Mancini’s header, as Italy beat Israel 3-0 in a strange atmosphere to lock down that World Cup play-off place, but it was far from a convincing performance.
2026 World Cup qualification Europe
3-0
Retegui got in front of Matan Baltaxa and was caught in the back of the ankle for a penalty, so days after missing against Estonia, he insisted on stepping up again.
While his finish in Tallinn was weak after a stuttering run-up, here Retegui smashed the finish into the roof of the net.
He doubled Italy’s lead and his own personal tally with a solo goal, as he robbed substitute Stav Toriel in the final third and immediately bent a fantastic right-foot curler into the far top corner from the edge of the area, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
It was his fifth goal in the last four games for the Nazionale.
There was a goal-line clearance to deny Calafiori’s header on a Tonali corner, followed by an acrobatic Mancini effort.
Moments later, Mancini did get the third goal with a header on another corner kick, his first senior strike for the Nazionale.
Match Events
47' Penalty Goal! Italy 1-0 Israel (Mateo Retegui)
73' GOAL! Italy 2-0 Israel (Mateo Retegui)
93' GOAL! Italy 3-0 Israel (Mancini)
Line-ups
Italy XI: Di Lorenzo, Dimarco, Barella, Locatelli, G. Mancini, Donnarumma, Giacomo Raspadori, Tonali, Mateo Retegui, Calafiori, Andrea Cambiaso
Subs: Spinazzola, Cristante, Meret, Vicario, Orsolini, Gabbia, Frattesi, Piccoli, Udojie, Nicolò Cambiaghi, Pio Esposito, Diego Coppola
Israel XI: Eli Dasa, Matan Baltaxa, Omri Glazer, Dan Biton, Manor Solomon, Eliel Peretz, Tai Baribo, Or Blorian, Roy Revivo, Oscar Gloukh, Anan Khalaili
Subs: Yarden Shua, Mohammed Abu Fani, Assaf Tzur, Peretz, Denny Gropper, Omri Gandelman, Ethane Azoulay, Itamar Noy, Dor Turgeman, Stav Turiel, Guy Mizrahi, Nikita Stoinov