Italy without Belotti for Israel qualifier

Giampiero Ventura’s first competitive match as Italy coach ended in a 3-1 victory in Israel as they got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start despite Giorgio Chiellini’s second-half red card.

Israel reduced the deficit five minutes later courtesy of a fine strike from Tal Ben Chaim fom the edged of the box.

The value in backing a road win is enhanced when one accounts for the fact that Italy have won two and lost none of three previous meetings with Israel and were one of only four teams who qualified for the European Championships with an unbeaten record (W7-D3).

Immobile watched on from the bench as Graziano Pelle’s close-range finish put the Azzurri ahead in their opening World Cup 2018 qualifier before Antonio Candreva doubled the lead from the penalty spot.

It was two on the half-hour when Giacomo Bonaventura won a penalty and Candreva found the bottom right corner, with goalkeeper David Goresh going the wrong way.

The sending off revitalised the Israeli crowd and brought hope that they could cause a huge upset.

But despite the one-man advantage, Israel were unable to get back into the game and Ciro Immobile made it three for Ventura’s men in the 83rd minute.

“We’re in a complicated group and unfortunately only the top team goes through”.

That said, Italy will suffer badly for the loss of Conte to Chelsea and his replacement, Giampiero Ventura, is entirely unproven at global level; however, Israel are extremely weak at present and I see the favourites taking a full three points from the fixture.

Despite the disappointing result, Israel captain Eran Zahavi said he was proud of the performance.

“As usual, Italy are always ready when the game actually counts for something”. “We had this distraction, but recovered and worked together to reach the end”. As well as Israel, Italy face Spain, Albania, Macedonia, and Liechtenstein in their Russian Federation 2018 qualifying group.