Chaos reigns as Gattuso's Italy scrambles to avoid missing a 3rd straight World Cup

ROME (AP) — Own goals. Uncharacteristic defensive lapses. General disorder. But lots of attacking flair.

If the idea in hiring Gennaro Gattuso to replace the fired Luciano Spalletti was to restore order and discipline to Italy’s under-pressure squad — which is still facing the possibility of failing to qualify for a third straight World Cup — there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Italy’s 5-4 victory over Israel in a World Cup qualifier was, Gattuso acknowledged, “the craziest game I’ve been involved with as a coach.”

“But that’s my fault and not down to the players,” Gattuso added. “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 was waiting for. They hit us on the counter every time.”

Italy helped Israel with two own goals for the opponent, and Monday’s game wasn’t decided until Sandro Tonali’s curled winner in stoppage time.

Still, it was a victory and three more points after Italy also scored a handful of goals in Gattuso’s debut in charge, a 5-0 win over Estonia on Friday.

The results meant that Italy leapfrogged Israel into second place in their qualifying group. Norway, which was hosting Moldova on Tuesday, leads the group with a perfect 12 points from four games. Italy is next with nine points from four games followed by Israel with nine points from five games — trailing on goal differential.

Winning the group is the only way to ensure direct qualification to next year’s tournament in North America. The second-placed team goes into the playoffs, the stage where Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia and ruled out of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.

But at least Italy, which started qualifying with a 3-0 loss at Norway, is now in position to make the playoffs.

Assuming that Erling Haaland’s Norway continues to cruise, four-time champion Italy needs to be perfect in its remaining qualifiers and vastly improve its goal differential — the first tiebreaker — before a likely decisive final group game against Norway at the San Siro in November.

Norway’s goal differential entering Tuesday’s game was +11 while Italy’s was +5.

Gattuso was criticized for benching Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori against Israel, with center backs Gianluca Mancini and Alessandro Bastoni unable to stop Manor Solomon from slaloming his way through the Azzurri defense.

Napoli center back Alessandro Buongiorno was unavailable due to injury, and veteran Francesco Acerbi’s days with Italy appear done after he turned down a call up for the Norway match under Spalletti.

There were also glaring mistakes from new Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli.

“We’re a crazy team, because we’re too fragile, we concede ridiculous goals too easily,” Gattuso said. “The guys know that. But this is my problem, not theirs. My staff and I need to figure out solutions.”

Gattuso likened the match to the wild 2005 Champions League final, when the AC Milan team he played for squandered a 3-0 halftime lead and lost to Liverpool in a penalty shootout.

“We need to learn that these matches are never finished,” Gattuso said.

On the positive side, Gattuso has several in-form forwards.

Mateo Retegui scored two goals and provided three assists in two matches; Moise Kean scored three goals and Giacomo Raspadori scored two and assisted on two off the bench.

But reverting to a traditional 4-4-2 featuring both Retegui and Kean left Italy unbalanced.

“Nearly nobody in modern soccer plays with two strikers, but we’re sticking with them and we’re pleased with what they’ve produced — and not just in terms of goals scored,” Gattuso said.

It marked the first time that Italy — which has traditionally been known for its defensive tactics — scored five goals in consecutive matches.

Another positive takeaway was the growing leadership provided by Tonali, who as a kid modeled his game after Andrea Pirlo and Gattuso.

“It’s inspirational for me,” Tonali said, “to work with a coach who has always been my reference point.”

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Italy's Sandro Tonali, center, runs with the ball during a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Italy's Sandro Tonali scores the winning goal during a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Israel's Dor Peretz scores a goal past Italy's Gianluigi Donnarumma during a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Italy's head coach Gennaro Gattuso waits for the start of a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Israel's Manor Solomon, left, in action against Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma during a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.

Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.

The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.

In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.

Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.

Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.

“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.

Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.

Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.

The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.

“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.

The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.

Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.

The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.

The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.

The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.

Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.

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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.

Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)