World Cup 2026 playoffs, no stage for Italy but Buffon wants no excuses

The playoffs for the 2026 World Cup are approaching. In a month and a half, Italy will be engaged against Northern Ireland, a match scheduled for March 26 at 8:45 p.m. at the ‘New Balance Arena’ in Bergamo, Italy, in the semifinal of the playoffs. In case of success, the national team would face the winner of the challenge between Wales and Bosnia on the 31st for a place in the World Cup scheduled for the summer.

Luca Giorgetti

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There will be no internship for the Azzurri ahead of the playoffs because of an overcrowded schedule between Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. National team leader Gianluigi Buffon, in an interview with La Stampa, wants no excuses: “I am someone who has always made a virtue out of necessity. As a man, a footballer and now a manager, I have never thought about creating alibis for myself. We made proposals, unfortunately they didn&#8217t go through and stop: the reason we are damning our souls is so big, high, strong and beautiful…”.

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“We didn&#8220t expect any help and so our only focus is to try to get to those two challenges in the best possible way, giving a collective and unselfish idea that is out of the ordinary” added the’former Juventus goalkeeper. In any case, the League will try to bring forward most of the league matches to the weekend of Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22 so as to anticipate the gathering in Coverciano.

He then praised coach Gennaro Gattuso: “The coach has been truly outstanding. No one like him, who feels all the players every week, knows the keys and the ways to make sure that positive energy is not wasted. We are convinced that he is giving and will still give so much”.

“What worries me? That the team maintains this psychophysical condition… But we have already had signals: the strongest one comes from the Inter players, given how the season had ended” Buffon concluded.