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Press Eye – Belfast, Northern Ireland – November 15, 2021 – Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Northern Ireland’s Stuart Dallas with Italy’s Emerson during Monday night’s FIFA World Cup qualifying at the International Stadium in Windsor Park, Belfast. Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Italy’s Federico Chiesa in the game tonight
World Cup qualification Northern Ireland versus Italy at Windsor Park Belfast
Pacemaker – Belfast – -15.11.2021
Photo Desmond Loughery / Pacemaker Press
Press Eye – Belfast, Northern Ireland – Nov 15, 2021 – Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Northern Ireland’s Gavin Whyte with Italy’s Francesco Acerbi during Monday night’s FIFA World Cup qualifying at the International Stadium in Windsor Park, Belfast. Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Press Eye – Belfast, Northern Ireland – Nov 15, 2021 – Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Northern Ireland’s Stuart Dallas with Italy’s Federico Chiesa during the FIFA World Cup qualifying on Monday evening at the International Stadium in Windsor Park, Belfast. Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
PACEMAKER PRESSE BELFAST 11/15/2021
Northern Ireland versus Italy FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Alistair McCann from Northern Ireland and Nicolo Barella from Italy during tonight’s game at the National Stadium in Windsor Park.
Pic Colm Lenaghan / Pacemaker
PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 11/15/2021
Northern Ireland versus Italy FIFA World Cup Qualifying.
Tom Flanagan from Northern Ireland and Nicolo Barella from Italy during tonight’s game at the National Stadium in Windsor Park.
Pic Colm Lenaghan / Pacemaker
Italy’s Jorginho and Northern Ireland’s Ali McCann in the game of Tonight
World Cup qualification Northern Ireland versus Italy at Windsor Park Belfast
Pacemaker – Belfast – -15.11.2021
Photo Desmond Loughery / Pacemaker Press
Northern Ireland coach Ian Baraclough with Italy coach Roberto Mancini before kick-off. Photo by William Cherry / Presseye
Gareth Hanna Twitter Email
Northern Ireland prevented European champions Italy from automatically entering the World Cup finals with a deserved 0-0 draw in Belfast, thus ending qualifying. </ In fact, after the final whistle there will have been the feeling that it should have been more for Ian Baraclough's men, who had three great chances to win in the second half.
The 4-0 win Switzerland over Bulgaria meant the Italians needed a three-goal win in Belfast to avoid the play-offs.
The result also means Northern Ireland finished the qualifying campaign without conceding a single goal at Windsor Park and also exclude Bulgaria, Switzerland and Lithuania.
As expected, possession dominated the guests who chased the victory they always knew they would probably need to reach the final en.
But Northern Ireland will be delighted at how much they have narrowed the European champions in terms of real scoring opportunities.
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When the Italians tried to take advantage of curling passes and holes in defense, NI stood firm. There was an early chance when the formidable Barella rolled a stunning pass on right-back Di Lorenzo, but his shot was missed well by Bailey Peacock Farrell.
Helping Di Lorenzo to uncover every mistake by Jamal Lewis seemed Italy’s best To be tactic, but otherwise found it difficult to bear fruit. Barella shot Peacock-Farrell straight, as did Insigne, before summer star Chiesa stepped in and finally got a chance to isolate right-back Stuart Dallas. He drove the Leeds man back, but his shot was stopped by Peacock-Farrell when Insigne threatened to get a meaningful look.
On the other hand, Northern Ireland saw little action in the first half apart from off a Tom Flanagan header after Gavin Whyte’s raw pace took a dangerous break and won a free kick.
It was so far, so good for Northern Ireland and it was only going to get better after the break as they got theirs Guests overwhelmed with frustration.
Once again Italy spent a long time in the opposition, but again with nothing to show.
Insigne and Chiesa both shot as good as the best their team had to offer.
On the flip side, there were three massive opportunities for Northern Ireland to add Italy to England and Spain in giant Belfast scalps this century.Two of them were pitched by Jamal Lewis, who was more impressive in the attacking third sseeked to be on the defensive. First, he rebounded Gavin Whyte’s cross perfectly into the path of George Saville, who sank a try too close to Gianluigi Donnarumma for the keeper to hold onto.
Later at half time, Lewis put a tempting ball over the Edge of the penalty area. It seemed like an eternity before Stuart Dallas stepped forward and struck, but when he did, his exertion flew excruciatingly past the back post.
The best thing was when Conor Washington stormed Donnarumma at the last minute hit the ball, circled the goalkeeper and a cover defender, but didn’t get enough grip on the shot to take down the man on the line.
It left a bit of a « what could have been » feeling, but not half so much like that result left a sense of pride at the end of an upside-down World Cup qualification.
Manager Ian Baraclough will sign a new contract to extend his reign and this will be the GAWA with the Nations League in mind -Campaign to give new confidence next year that better days could be around the corner.
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