Can Haarland make it to his first major International Tournament?

In the following text, we are going to look into the match up of Italy vs Norway – Prediction for the upcoming World Cup Qualifier in the UEFA qualifying section, who will be playing each other in Group I. Group I has been an exciting 5 team group with the group winners assured of direct qualification to the 2026 World Cup while the runners up will head the the UEFA playoff qualifying section. The teams in 3rd, 4th and 5th will have to wait a further 4 years for another chance at a World Cup.

The group has seen Norway and Italy battling for the top 2 spots from the start and despite some slight competition from Israel this will be a straight shootout for one of those hallowed spots. Norway have Erling Haarland in their line up, the current top goalscorer in the whole of qualifying and he will be desperate to get a chance to play at a major international finals with this missing from his CV currently, despite having the personal awards of the Premier League Golden Boot, European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy to his name.

Day: Sunday 16th November
Time: 20:45
Stadium: San Siro, Milan, Italy
Tournament: World Cup Qualifiers – Europe Group I

In the last match, Norway hit three by half-time through Serloth, Nusa, and that man Haarland and cruised to an easy victory from there. With that impressive 3-0 win in the opening fixture and holding a superior goal difference, it is likely that Norway will only need a point or a low-scoring defeat by the time of this trip to Milan. Italy will have to hope Norway slip up in home games against Estonia and Israel and score as many as possible themselves against group underdogs Moldova and Estonia.

Italy

Italy qualified for every World Cup except one between 1930 and the 2014 version, making 6 finals and winning the trophy 4 times. But have missed the last two in Russia and Qatar the 2nd one despite being champions of Europe. They will be desperate to put that right in 2026 but will need a big result from this match to do so without needing the playoffs. With 5 wins and 2 draws from the last 10 games, they are not in bad form, though they lost in the Nation League quarter finals 5-4 on aggregate to Germany. The loss in the big game in this group away in Norway with the aforementioned 3-0 reverse. Italy play attacking football nowadays and they have scored 21 in their last 8 games. They beat Isreal 5-4 away and 3-0 at home, Estonia 5-0 and 3-1, while seeing off Moldova 2-0. Home form has been ok against lower-ranked sides, but they have lost to both Germany and France, while drawing with Belgium in the last 12 months.

Norway

Norway will be approaching this match feeling highly confident that they can secure their first World Cup qualification since back in 1998. They had an excellent Nations League campaign and were promoted to League A in 2024. Following up on this they have won their first 5 World Cup qualifiers, including scoring five then eleven against minnows Moldova, an impressive 4-2 win on neutral soil against Israel before hammering them 5-0 in the return match. They scraped a 1-0 win away over Estonia. The other game was of course the crushing home win over Italy that put them in such a strong position here. They have 4 away wins from the last 5, and have won 10 of the last 11, making them in strong form coming into this one.

Italy vs Norway – Possible lineups

In terms of line-ups these are key to making a strong Italy vs Norway – Prediction. Italy have no major injuries or suspensions at the time being. Gianluigi Donnarumma the goalkeeper and Captain will marshal the backline while the team blends a good mix of youth and experience with veterans like midfielder Nicolò Barella and defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo helping along the newer Italian stars like Moise Kean and Riccardo Calafiori.

Norway are not struggling with any injuries or suspensions at the time of writing. Their squad nowadays has many players from Europe’s top leagues as well as some solid homegrown talent, as their local teams have been impressive in European competitions, especially Europa League semi-finalists Bodo/Glimt. They have a strong front pairing in Erling Haarland and Alex Sorloth (Atletico Madrid). Orjan Nyland, also playing La Liga, is solid in goal and Fulham’s Sander Berge is well-experienced. A player to keep your eye on perhaps is Rangers-based Thelo Aasgaard, who has 5 goals from his 3 International caps.

Italy possible XI:

GK: Donnarumma

DEF: Bastoni · Coppola · Di Lorenzo

MID: Udolge · Tonali · Barella ·Zappacosta · Rovella

ATT: Raspadori · Kean

Norway possible XI:

GK: Nyland

DEF: Ryerson · Ajer · Heggem · Wolfe

MID: Odegaard · Berge · Thorsby · Nusa

ATT: Haaland · Sarloth

Where to watch Italy vs Norway

Italy vs Norway will be live on Amazon Prime TV alongside all UEFA World Cup qualifying matches. You will find certain betting sites that will also stream this game live, or offer a text commentary service. Other sites can also offer live streams like RTVE Play and Fubo. Live text commentary including UEFA’s official website, as well as the official site for FIFA and the BBC Sport website.

• RTVE Play
• Fubo
• Prime Video
• Betting Sites
• UEFA.tv
• FIFA.com

Prediction Italy vs Norway

My feeling here is that Norway will pretty much be through heading into this match and will be prepared to play to keep it tight or be able to qualify even with a low defeat. Italy will have to win by a few goals to make it and will be looking at an all-out attack, allowing them to be hit on the break. It is unlikely that Israel will be close enough to take Italy out of a playoff spot, however. I think Italy will win by a margin of 2 goals, so look at the Italy vs Norway Prediction of an Italy -1 handicap for some value when betting on this match.

The odds are likely to be between Italy 3.50 to 4.00 so anything over this is good value.