Italy, which has missed two World Cups, has to compete in the play-offs again. Poor attack power is the original sin. It was crushed by Norway.

At 03:45 in the morning on November 14, in the 9th round of Group I of the European Group Stage of the World Cup, Italy defeated Moldova 2-0 away from home. In this campaign, Italian Mancini and Esposito scored 2 goals in 4 minutes, and finally won with a 2-goal advantage. In the final round, they will face Norway, the leader of this group, led by Haaland, at home.

With Norway's 4-1 victory over Estonia, Italy is still 3 points behind Norway in Group I of the European Group Stage of the World Preliminaries, and is missing a full 17 goal difference. This means that Norway has basically secured the top spot in the group and directly qualified for the 2026 US-Canada World Cup. Italy, which has missed two World Cups, has to fight in the thrilling play-offs again. Italy's promotion to the World Cup has become precarious. So the question is, why four-star Italy has become so bad? The main reason is that the offensive power is too high.

Let’s take Italy’s opponent Moldova as the comparison object. Italy defeated Moldova 2-0 at home and away. Italy only had a 4-goal difference against a weak European player like Moldova. Norway, on the other hand, beat Moldova 5-0 away from home and swept Moldova 11-1 at home, achieving a 15-goal difference from a single opponent. Italy's offense has become so poor, which is the fundamental reason why they have missed two consecutive World Cups and have to play in the play-offs in this World Cup preliminaries. In competitive sports, "dish" is the original sin. Most fans born in the 1970s and 1980s have special feelings about the Italian blue, but today's Italian football has indeed changed. Retegui, the top scorer in the Italian team in this World Cup preliminaries, is still a naturalized striker who is not wanted by Argentina. Currently, this player is gold rush in Saudi Arabia during his playing years. It can only be said that Italy, with forwards such as Baggio, Vieri, Del Piero, Inzaghi and other strikers, is a thing of the past and has become a good memory for fans born in the 1970s and 1980s.