Scamacca and Buongiorno recalled for Italy’s World Cup qualifiers

Gennaro Gattuso remembered Gianluca Scamacca and Alessandro Buongiorno on Friday as he named a squad containing few surprises for Italy’s final World Cup qualifying group matches against Moldova and Norway.

Elia Caprile gets his first call-up for Italy, with the Cagliari goalkeeper taking the place of the injured Alex Meret, who has a broken metatarsal.

Meret’s Napoli teammate Buongiorno returns to the squad after missing both of this season’s international matches with injury, as does Atalanta striker Scamacca, who last played for Italy at the 2024 European Championship.

Italy will take on Group I bottom team Moldova in Chisinau on Thursday before welcoming leaders Norway to San Siro the following Sunday.

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The Azzurri are assured of a place in the qualifying play-offs after securing second place in the group with wins over Estonia and Israel last month.

Three points separate them from Norway, who will effectively seal first place and direct qualification for the World Cup if they beat Estonia just before Italy take on Moldova.

Norway’s goal difference is 16 better than Italy’s, meaning it would take a huge turnaround in that statistic for Gattuso’s team to take top spot, even if the two teams finished the group level on points.

Italy will therefore most likely participate in the play-offs, from which it failed to qualify for the previous two World Cups.

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City/ENG), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG)

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal/ENG), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Matteo Gabbia (AC Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma)

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (AC Milan), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle/ENG)

Forward: Pio Esposito (Inter Milan), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah/KSA), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio)

Published on November 7, 2025