Italy vs Moldova prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-06-08 18:45.
[p]With only the winners of Group I qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup, Italy are already under pressure after losing their opening group game 3-0 to Norway on Friday. The Azzurri failed to qualify for either of the last two World Cups and barely landed a blow in Oslo despite dominating possession, leading to manager Luciano Spalletti fielding questions about his future.[/p]
[p]The four-time world champions are now on a four-game winless run (D1, L3) with two of those losses coming at home, albeit both of those home defeats were against sides ranked inside FIFA’s top-ten. They also lost their last home World Cup qualifying (WCQ) match, going down 1-0 to North Macedonia in a 2022 play-off, but more encouragingly won their last two such games here in Reggio Emilia without conceding.[/p]
[p]Moldova have also started poorly by losing their first two group games to Norway (5-0) and Estonia (3-2). As their wait for a WCQ win stretches back to October 2013 (D3, L19) when they beat Montenegro 5-2, there seems little chance of them ending it here even despite Italy’s troubles, especially given Moldova have lost all five previous H2Hs and only once conceded fewer than two goals![/p]
[p]Head coach Serghei Cleșcenco named four uncapped players in his squad for this match as well as Friday’s friendly 2-0 loss to Poland, including Sergiu Perciun who plays in Italy for Torino. While he might be in familiar surroundings, the Tricolours are rarely comfortable on the road having only won one of their last seven fixtures in opposition territory (D2, L4).[/p]
[p]Players to watch: As a former Sassuolo player, Giacomo Raspadori knows this venue well. He more recently scored six goals to help Napoli win the 2024/25 Serie A title, four of them being his side’s first of the game. Nobody has scored more goals for Moldova than Ion Nicolaescu (17) and he might fancy his chances of adding to his tally after netting in each of his last three club appearances of 20+ minutes, twice from the penalty spot.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Eight of Italy’s last nine games produced over 2.5 goals (W4, D2, L3), as did four of their five H2H wins.[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]