Monday Groupthink: Will Italy beat Bosnia & Herzegovina and qualify for the World Cup?

BERGAMO, ITALY - MARCH 26: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Federico Gatti and Manuel Locatelli of Italy celebrate the victory at the end of the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) | Getty Images

It may take 90 minutes. It may take extra time. Hell, it may even go to penalties. No matter how long it actually takes Tuesday night, Italy’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America comes down to one trip to Zenica and the Bilino Polje Stadium that seats no more than 16,000.

The comfort of Bergamo is now a thing of the past.

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Italy will be fighting for their World Cup qualification at a stadium where they are the enemy. They will be the team standing in between Bosnia & Herzegovina being one of the biggest surprises in terms of qualifying teams to be in the expanded World Cup field.

But the Azzurri will have to overcome — yes, even though they are still the favorites on Tuesday night despite being away from home — and actually qualify for the World Cup this summer.

The win over Northern Ireland was the reminder that Sandro Tonali is very good at his job, that this Italy team has limitations and will test every single bit of our collective nerves over the 90 (or more) minutes against Bosnia & Herzegovina. But they do sound like a confident group that believe they can get the job done even though there is so much pressure on them to not make it three straight qualification cycles without actually qualifying.

“We are human beings, there’s no point saying we don’t feel the tension, we all want to do well and go to the World Cup, but it’s the right kind of tension,” Italy goalkeeper and captain Gigio Donnarumma told Sky Sport Italia. “We’re ready, we need to do what we prepared in training, focus on what we are capable of, and the rest will come as a consequence.”

Italy are ready, according to Donnarumma. About 24 hours from now, we will see if that is actually the case and if the Azzurri can actually put an end to the string of World Cups that they haven’t qualified for.

Can they actually do it, though? That is the question of which we will ask for you to discuss below.

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