Italian football relies on a naturalized Argentine forward to shine; he provided assists, scored a hat-trick, and contributed to six goals in two World Cup qualifying matches.

Can you imagine? The four-star Italian team now relies on a naturalized Argentine player rejected by his homeland. The Serie A Golden Boot winner last season opted to transfer to the Saudi league during his peak years for money. This is the reality of Italian football, having missed two straight World Cups, with a significant talent decline.

At 2:45 AM Beijing time on September 9, in the sixth round of the UEFA World Cup qualifiers Group I, Italy played away against Israel. Originally expected to be a one-sided match, both teams delivered a wild game. Italy scored seven goals (including two own goals), narrowly winning 5-4 on the road against Israel, securing their second consecutive qualifier victory and rising to second place in the group.

In this match, Italy’s naturalized forward Retegui recorded a hat-trick of assists, tallying 2 goals and 4 assists in two World Cup qualifiers during the September international window, contributing to six goals single-handedly. It’s clear that Italy’s attack now heavily depends on this naturalized Argentine striker. Against Israel, Kean scored twice, both goals assisted by Retegui, but own goals by Locatelli and Bastoni complicated Italy’s path to victory. Italy managed a thrilling 5-4 win thanks to Tonali’s stoppage-time goal, making the match truly crazy.

The match statistics once again show that Italy barely escaped with a win when playing away against Israel.They held 54% possession and took 17 shots, six more than Israel, yet both teams had seven shots on target.