Chaos reigns as Gattuso’s Italy scrambles to avoid missing a third cup

Israel’s Manor Solomon (left) in action against Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma during a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match

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, 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 today’s game [Macau time] 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. ANDREW DAMPF, ROME, MDT/AP