U17 World Cup, Italy's dream goes out in semifinals
The Italian Under-17 national team will not be able to go beyond the third or fourth place at the World Cup in progress in Qatar. In fact, the Italian youth selection lost in Al Rayyan the semifinal match against Austria 2-0: the decisive factor was the double scored by Johannes Moser, with goals scored at 57′ and 93′.
The boys led by Massimiliano Favo, finished the match even in a numerical inferiority, given the direct expulsion of Benit Borasio a minute before the second Austrian goal. The young Azzurri will thus not be able to play for the World Cup, but will have to take the field for third place in the final on Thursday, November 27, also in Al Rayyan.
Whichever way it turns out, the one achieved this year is the best result ever for the U17 national team at the World Cup in its category: in fact, before 2025 Italy had never gone beyond the quarterfinals, reached in 2009 in Nigeria (1-2 against Switzerland) and in 2019 in Brazil (0-2 against the hosts).
In this year’s edition, the’Italy Under-17 went through the group stage as the winner of Group A, with three victories against Qatar (1-0, goal by Inacio), Bolivia (4-0, goals by Lontani, Inacio, Elimoghale and Pandolfi) and South Africa (3-1, scored twice by Inacio and Arena), and then won in the round of 16 against the Czech Republic (2-0, goals by Arena and Maccaroni), in the round of 16 against the’Uzbekistan (3-2, Azzurri goals by Campaniello, author of a double, and Idrissa) and in the quarters with Burkina Faso (1-0, goal by Campaniello in the final).
