Italy vs Switzerland

Stadio Olimpico is the venue as Italy and Switzerland battle it out for supremacy in World Cup Qualification Group C, with nothing but a goal difference separating the sides ahead of the kick-off.

Despite seeing their record-breaking 37-match unbeaten streak collapse against Spain in the last international break, Italy remain unbeaten in the ongoing World Cup qualifying cycle (W4, D2). Roberto Mancini has based his team’s eye-catching success on a rock-solid backline that has conceded just a single goal from six Group C fixtures to date. That ties in well with Italy’s tendency to keep Switzerland at bay, with ‘Gli Azzurri’ registering a clean sheet in each of their last four H2Hs across all competitions (W2, D2). Superior goal difference would allow Italy to retain the top place in the section in case of a draw here, which could eventually prove sufficient to catapult them back to the World Cup finals for the first time since 2014.

On the other hand, the visitors have gone from back-to-back ‘nil-nil’ World Cup qualifying draws to a brace of victories ‘to nil’ to boost their hopes of securing automatic qualification for Qatar 2022. Excluding their underwhelming Euro 2020 adventure, Switzerland have avoided defeat across their three internationals on foreign soil in 2021 (W2, D1), returning a +6 goal difference for their trouble (GF:7, GA:1). New head coach Murat Yakin has yet to feel a bite of loss (W2, D2), but winning on Italian soil would be a standout success. Indeed, except for a narrow 1-0 win in a friendly meeting at the Stadio Olimpico back in 1982, Switzerland have not tasted victory in any of their remaining 25 visits to Italy (D6, L19). An embarrassing 3-0 reverse at this summer’s Euro finals should serve as an added incentive for the ‘Nati’ to pursue glory in Rome.