Italy made sure they will finish second in European 2026 World Cup qualification Group I and get a place in the playoffs for next year's tournament in North America by beating Israel 3-0 in Udine on Tuesday.
    Forward Mateo Retegui converted a penalty and curled home a shot from outside the box and defender Gianluca Mancini scored with a header to put the Azzurri on 15 points from six games.
    Although Italy are only three points behind leaders Norway with two games to go and could still catch them up to finish top of the group and qualify directly in theory, this looks highly unlikely in practice.
    Norway will be confident of beating Estonia at home in their next game and have a goal difference of +26, meaning they can afford to lose to Italy in the last game at San Siro next month by a big margin and still win the group.

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