ITALY will be without defender Alessandro Buongiorno for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Moldova, the country’s football federation said on Sunday.
Napoli centre-back Buongiorno has failed to recover from a thigh injury in time for Italy’s opening matches in Group I, and has been replaced by Fiorentina’s Luca Ranieri who has never played for the senior national team.
Coach Luciano Spalletti has a 27-man squad for the first two matches of the qualifying campaign, which begins in Oslo against Erling Haaland’s Norway on Friday.
Italy, who failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, then host Moldova three says later in Reggio Emilia.
Norway lead Group I after winning both their opening matches against Israel and Moldova in March.