Italy’s damage issues continued to pile up as captain Giorgio Chiellini grew to become the most recent participant to withdraw from the squad on Wednesday forward of its ultimate World Cup qualifiers.
Chiellini pulled out of the warmup previous to Juventus’ match towards Fiorentina on the weekend and the veteran defender has not recovered in time.
Italy ahead Ciro Immobile and midfielders Nicolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini pulled out of the squad earlier this week.
The excellent news for Italy coach Roberto Mancini is that midfielder Nicolo Barella skilled on Wednesday, having undergone therapy the day prior to this.
Italy performs Switzerland in Rome on Friday. The two groups have 14 factors every atop Group C with the European champion having the tiebreaker benefit on purpose distinction of two higher.
Only the first-place finisher will get a direct spot into subsequent yr’s finals in Qatar. The second-place group goes into the playoffs in March, needing to advance previous two opponents to achieve the World Cup.
Switzerland additionally has damage issues. It was already with out captain Granit Xhaka and ahead Haris Seferovic attributable to long-term accidents and winger Steven Zuber on Monday grew to become the fourth participant to drop out from the squad chosen final week.
After Switzerland, Italy performs Northern Ireland in Belfast subsequent Monday. The Swiss end by internet hosting Bulgaria.
Italy beat Switzerland 3-0 in Rome within the group section of Euro 2020. The groups drew 0-0 in Basel in September in World Cup qualifying.
Italy’s world file 37-match unbeaten run ended final month with a 2-1 loss to Spain in a Nations League semifinal.
