Estonia vs Italy Preview, Saturday 11 October 2025, World Cup Qualifiers
Wow, what an exciting moment! Here’s the preview for the match between Estonia and Italy on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at the A. Le Coq Arena in Tallinn, Estonia, beginning at 20:45. What’s all the commotion about? Oh, let’s be serious. We know that the Italian National team is feeling the heat to win this game to chase their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. Italy can’t afford to think about a draw; their aim is to win this away game…. or they might start to get anxious!
Italy has secured victories in all three of its recent World Cup qualifiers, and it hasn’t achieved four consecutive wins in such matches since October 2016 and June 2017 (four wins under Giampiero Ventura). Therefore, the goal is clear: Just go and win.
✅ Here are the Standings (BEFORE THE GAME).
Italy needs to secure a victory to keep their hopes alive for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Norway 15 points (5 games played), Italy 9 (4), Israel 9 (5), Estonia 3 (5), Moldova 0 (5)
What are the statistics between Estonia and Italy?
Well, my friends, statistics reveal that Italy has triumphed in all three of their World Cup qualifying matches against Estonia without allowing a single goal (including the 5-0 victory on September 5). In short, Italy has never managed to achieve four straight clean sheet wins against a single opponent in this competition (they have done so three times against Luxembourg as well). Overall, the Azzurri have won all eight encounters with Estonia across all competitions, and among the teams they have a perfect win record against, only Malta has seen more matches played (10).
In conclusion, Italy stands a better chance of winning this game. However, let’s not take anything for granted. To put it another way, if the match ends in a draw, it would feel like a loss for the Azzurri.
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Italy has won their only previous World Cup qualifying match played away in Estonia (3-0 on September 22, 1993, featuring two goals from Roberto Baggio and one from Roberto Mancini). In fact, only against Finland (from 1965 to 1977) have the Azzurri recorded two clean sheet victories in their first two away World Cup qualifying matches.
How is Italy doing under Head Coach Gennaro Gattuso?
Italy has netted five goals in each of its initial two matches with Gattuso at the helm. To put it another way, only once has a coach witnessed the national team score at least three goals in each of his first three matches as Italy’s coach (Ferruccio Novo in 1949, with four goals against Portugal and three against both Spain and Austria). The real question is whether Gattuso possesses the skills to guide the team to a solid victory. Well, it doesn’t even have to be a solid one; as long as Italy secures a win, that will suffice. No time to waste!
Photo credit x.com/Azzurri_En
And what about Estonia?
Yes, what’s the situation with Estonia? After losses to Norway (0-1) and Italy (0-5 in the first leg), Estonia risks facing three straight defeats without scoring in the qualifiers of a single World Cup edition for the first time since September-October 2012 (three). It would be a huge surprise if Estonia manages to either win or draw this match, especially considering they are playing at home.
Italian Player Statistics
Giacomo Raspadori and Moise Kean have each found the net in their last three World Cup qualifying games. Only three players have managed to score in at least four consecutive World Cup qualifying matches for Italy: Luigi Riva (five goals, from 1968 to 1972), Roberto Bettega (four goals, from 1976 to 1977), and Filippo Inzaghi (four goals, from 2000 to 2001).
Mateo Retegui, who netted the latest of his two braces for Italy against Estonia, has also contributed four assists in World Cup qualifying matches, which is the highest tally among European strikers (Manor Solomon has also achieved four).
Photo via x.com/Azzurri
Estonia – Italy Match Officials
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük NED.
Assistant Referee 1: Erwin Zeinstra NED.
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Inia NED.
Fourth Official: Joey Kooij NED.
VAR: Rob Dieperink NED.
AVAR: Jeroen Manschot NED.
Referee Observer: Calum Murray SCO
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ITALY SQUAD LIST
GOALKEEPERS: Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham).
DEFENDERS: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Diego Coppola (Brighton & Hove Albion), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham).
MIDFIELDERS: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Hans Nicolussi Caviglia (Fiorentina), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle).
FORWARDS: Nicolò Cambiaghi (Bologna), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atletico Madrid), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).
