Gattuso, you unpredictable menace! We expected goalless draw and got nine-goal spectacle

Journalists are human beings, too, you know. We make mistakes, false predictions, bad assumptions... Even when talking about something we really know and have been monitoring closely for decades. That's how we at Mozzart Sport Kenya got gattusoed last night - yes, from now on, we will use the word 'gattusoed' for the falsest prediction possible, for the outcome farthest from what we expected. Chatting about the game between Italy and Israel in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers before the kick-off, some of us were adamant - it will be the dullest goalless draw possible without a single exciting moment for the entire 90 minutes. And voila... one could say it unfolded a bit differently.

Gli Azzurri fought back twice from a goal down to eventually beat Israel 5-4 on Monday night. After a chaotic skirmish, they moved into second place in their WC qualifying group.

Due to ongoing political and security issues, the game was played on neutral turf at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary. It started awfully for the Italians, as Locatelli accidentally scored into his own net from close range in an attempt to clear it.

The equaliser came through unplayable Moise Kean, who took a touch from the edge of the area before heading it home with his right foot. Interestingly, it was 'only' 1-1 at the half-time break, but the dam broke shortly after the restart with Don Peretz's goal as he restored his side's lead, 2-1.

The favourites responded almost instantly, as Retegui provided Kean with a perfect ball inside the box for a brace and another equaliser, 2-2.

Gli Azzurri took the lead for the first time in the game shortly after it, only this time Retegui supplied Politano with a wonderful assist.

Gattuso's men made it 4-2 thanks to a smoothly-worked team effort - Frattesi combined with Tonali, before deploying Giacomo Raspadori to make it from six yards.

It still wasn't over, though, as Bastoni scored an own goal with a comical attempt at clearance on the Roy Revivo cross.

The chaos was complete when Peretz made it 4-4 near the end, but in stoppage time, Sandro Tonali's ball went through a sea of legs to surprise everyone, accidentally slot into the far bottom corner, and seal a dramatic 5-4 victory.

"It was murder today," confessed an exhausted Gattuso on RAI Sport and Sky Sport Italia.

"It's the craziest game I've been involved with as a coach, but it is my problem and not that of the players. If we want to play in a certain way, we need to get better at this. We were crazy to systematically go on the attack, that's what Israel were waiting for, they hit us on the counter every time. We could've defended deeper when leading."

Italy scored ten goals in two games so far under Gattuso, but also conceded four.

"We're a crazy team, because we are too fragile, we concede ridiculous goals too easily. The lads know that, but this is my problem, not theirs. We come from a football where it's about references, but we need to work on being our own team first."

2026 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS - EUROPE

Monday

Belarus - Scotland 0-2 (0-1)

/Adams 43, Volkov 65 og/

Croatia - Montenegro 4-0 (1-0)

/Jakic 35, Kramaric 51, Kuc 85 og, Perisic 90+2/

Gibraltar - Faroe Islands 0-1 (0-0)

/Agnarsson 68/

Greece - Denmark 0-3 (0-1)

/Damsgaard 32, Christensen 62, Hojlund 81/

Israel - Italy 4-5 (1-1)

/Locatelli 16 og, Peretz Do. 52, 89, Bastoni 87 og - Kean 40, 54, Politano 58, Raspadori 81, Tonali 90+1/

Kosovo* - Sweden 2-0 (2-0)

/Rexhbecaj 26, Muriqi 42/

Switzerland - Slovenia 3-0 (3-0)

/Elvedi 18, Embolo 33, Ndoye 38/

Tuesday

19.00: (5.30) Armenia (3.50) R.Ireland (1.72)

19.00: (6.25) Azerbaijan (4.00) Ukraine (1.55)

21.45: (1.35) Albania (4.60) Latvia (10.5)

21.45: (4.70) B&H (3.50) Austria (1.80)

21.45: (5.80) Cyprus (3.80) Romania (1.62)

21.45: (1.08) France (13.0) Iceland (20.0)

21.45: (6.50) Hungary (4.10) Portugal (1.53)

21.45: (1.10) Norway (10.5) Moldova (22.0)

21.45: (5.50) Serbia (4.00) England (1.70)

***odds are subject to change***