Italy kick off their Euro 2016 Group H qualifying campaign against Norway at Oslo’s Ullevall Stadion at 19:45 on September 9.
The two nations last met when they were paired together in the qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup. Italy won 2-1 in Palermo with goals from Daniele De Rossi and Luca Toni and the return leg in Oslo ended goalless.
The two have met 13 times in history and Italy boast a slightly better record: six wins, four draws and three defeats. The record books suggest that Antonio Conte’s first competitive game at the helm for the Azzurri will be a close-fought thing. The last time an Italy v Norway clash ended with a winning margin of more than one goal was in 1937.
Italy’s recent form has been mixed. The Azzurri go into the game after the morale-boosting 2-0 victory over the Dutch in Bari that helped suppress some of the bad memories of the failure in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. The team had won only one game in 10 before Conte’s appointment. However, the Azzurri have an excellent record in qualifying fixtures. Italy’s most recent defeat in a qualifier came in 2006 when they lost 3-1 to France in the Euro 2008 campaign.
Norway will take to the field off the back of an uninspiring 1-0 friendly defeat to England at Wembley. The national side hasn’t overachieved recently in the way that sides from the 1990s did but they remain resilient. The Scandinavians haven’t won in six games with the last win coming against Moldova in January.
Per-Mathias Hogmo has been on the Norway bench since 2013. The victory over Moldova is the sole victory under his belt but Norway are keen to ditch their traditional approach of English-inspired long balls for a more progressive style of football but it’s very much a work in progress.
Mario Balotelli and Claudio Marchisio are both out for Italy through suspension while Giorgio Chiellini is injured.
Alessandro Florenzi is expected to start with the task of linking midfield and attack in Marchisio’s absence.
Conte is likely to stick with his favoured 3-5-2 formation with Simone Zaza and Ciro Immobile expected to start together up front with AC Milan’s Stephan El Shaarawy the back up on the bench.
Defensive mainstay Brede Hangeland will not be there in red after he retired from international football in August and a new generation of Norwegians has replaced the likes of John Arne Riise and Morten Gamst Pedersen.
Blackburn Rovers forward Joshua King is likely to lead the line despite his struggles to secure a first-team place at Ewood Park. Young Cardiff midfielder Mats Daehli has been touted as the future of Norwegian football and he’ll be eager to prove himself against Italy’s wing-backs.
Expected Starting XIs
Norway: Nyland, Elabdellaoui, Nordveit, Forren, Linnes, Skjelbred, Johansen, Jenssen, Daehli, King, Elyounoussi
Italy: Buffon, Ranocchia, Bonucci, Astori, Candreva, De Sciglio, De Rossi, Florenzi, Giaccherini, Zaza, Immobile.
