Ståle Solbakken’s Norway claimed victory in their first two group stage matches in March, defeating Moldova 5–0 at Stadionul Zimbru in Chișinău, and three days later, beating Israel 4–2 in a second away game held at a neutral venue, Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen.

Of Norway’s nine goals in those matches, forwards Erling Haaland (Man City) and Alexander Sørloth (Atlético Madrid) each scored twice. Other goals came from defenders Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford), Julian Ryerson (Dortmund), and David Møller Wolfe (Alkmaar), midfielder Thelo Aasgaard (Luton), and forward Aron Dønnum (Toulouse).

According to statements made in the press, Solbakken is approaching the match against the Azzurri with confidence and doesn’t even consider the high-profile visitors as favorites. The Norwegian coach views the match as a 50-50 battle.

Possible Norway (4-4-2) starting lineup:

Nyland; Ryerson, Østigård, Ajer, Wolfe; Ødegaard, Berge, Berg, Schjelderup; Sørloth, Haaland.

Luciano Spalletti’s Italy is kicking off its qualification journey with this match. The Azzurri have been kept busy with the UEFA Nations League, having finished second behind France in their League A group last November, which earned them a quarterfinal spot. However, their journey ended there against Germany, who edged them out over two legs with a 5–4 aggregate win in March.

Italy first lost 1–2 to Germany at home in San Siro, Milan. Three days later, the two sides played a high-scoring draw at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. Italy was trailing by three goals at halftime but came back to 3–3 in the second half thanks to two goals by Fiorentina’s Moise Kean and a penalty by Napoli’s Giacomo Raspadori. However, that wasn’t enough to go through. In the first leg, Sandro Tonali from Newcastle found the net for Italy.

Last weekend, PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma returned to the Azzurri camp from Champions League victory celebrations with mixed emotions. There, he has been training with close friends he had just recently defeated in the final and with whom he might soon share a club shirt, though he still has a year left on his PSG contract, but money talks. Inter players Nicolò Barella, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, and Davide Frattesi are now in the national camp together, not taking the final lightly. Meanwhile, Inter’s 37-year-old veteran centre-back Francesco Acerbi took the PSG defeat so hard that he declined Spalletti’s national team call-up. Napoli’s centre-back Alessandro Buongiorno is also absent due to a thigh injury, so Fiorentina’s Luca Ranieri is getting his first senior call-up after playing in the U21s.

Possible Italy (3-5-2) starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Gatti, Bastoni; Cambiaso, Barella, Ricci, Tonali, Udogie; Raspadori, Kean.

Having had a flying start to the qualifiers, Norway may well be primed to surprise, especially as Italy is only just beginning its campaign, under massive pressure from domestic media to restore the Azzurri to their former glory. That kind of pressure can prove to be a double-edged sword.

Good luck!

索尔巴肯的挪威队在3月份的前两场小组赛中取得了胜利，他们在Chișinău的辛布鲁球场以5比0击败了摩尔多瓦队，三天后在德布勒森的纳耶代球场举行的第二场客场比赛中以4比2击败了以色列队。

在这两场比赛中，挪威队的9个进球中，前锋埃尔林·哈兰德（曼城）和亚历山大·索罗思（马德里）各进了2球。其他进球来自后卫阿杰尔（布伦特福德）、里尔森（多特蒙德）和沃尔夫（阿尔克马尔）、中场阿斯加德（卢顿）和前锋纳姆（图卢兹）。

根据媒体发表的声明，索尔巴肯对与蓝衣军团的比赛充满信心，甚至不认为高调的客队是最受欢迎的。这位挪威教练认为这场比赛是一场50-50的比赛。

挪威可能的首发阵容：

Nyland;Ryerson， Østigård, Ajer, Wolfe；Ødegaard, Berge, Berg, Schjelderup；Sørloth Haaland。

卢西亚诺·斯帕莱蒂率领的意大利队将从这场比赛开始他们的资格赛之旅。蓝衣军团一直忙于欧洲联盟联赛，他们在去年11月的联赛A组中排名第二，仅次于法国队，这为他们赢得了四分之一决赛的入场券。然而，他们的旅程就这样结束了，德国在3月份的比赛中以5:4的总比分击败了他们。

意大利首先在米兰圣西罗主场1-2不敌德国。三天后，双方在多特蒙德的信号伊杜纳公园上演了一场高比分的平局。意大利在半场结束时落后3球，但在下半场凭借佛罗伦萨的莫伊斯·基恩的两粒进球和那不勒斯的贾科莫·拉斯多里的点球将比分追至3-3。然而，这还不够。在第一回合，纽卡斯尔的桑德罗·托纳利为意大利打进一球。

上周末，巴黎圣日耳曼的门将多纳鲁玛从欧冠胜利庆祝活动中带着复杂的情绪回到了蓝衣军团的营地。在那里，他一直在和他最近在决赛中击败的密友一起训练，他可能很快就会和他们共用一件俱乐部球衣，尽管他与巴黎圣日耳曼的合同还有一年，但金钱决定一切。国米球员Nicolò巴雷拉、巴斯托尼、迪马科和弗拉特西现在都在国家队，他们不会对决赛掉以轻心。与此同时，国际米兰37岁的老将中后卫阿塞比对巴黎圣日耳曼的失利耿耿于心，他拒绝了斯帕莱蒂的国家队征召。那不勒斯的中后卫亚历山德罗·布翁吉奥诺也因为大腿受伤缺席了比赛，因此佛罗伦萨的卢卡·拉涅利在u21后第一次得到了国家队的征召。

意大利（3-5-2）首发阵容：

Donnarumma;迪·洛伦佐、加蒂、巴斯托尼；坎比亚索、巴雷拉、里奇、托纳利、乌多吉；Raspadori,基恩。

预选赛开门红后，挪威很可能会给意大利带来惊喜，尤其是在意大利刚刚开始新赛季的情况下，国内媒体对意大利施加了巨大的压力，要求他们恢复昔日的辉煌。这种压力可能被证明是一把双刃剑。

好运！