Coppola: ‘Not the debut I hoped for, Italy had wrong approach’

Diego Coppola confessed this was ‘not the debut I was hoping for’ after Italy’s 3-0 defeat to Norway. ‘The goals were all similar, we should’ve done more.’

This was a truly embarrassing start to the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, as they were already 3-0 down by half-time in Oslo to goals from Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland.

It means Norway are already running away at the top of Group I with nine points from three games played, while the Azzurri are playing catch-up.

The one bright spot was the debut of Hellas Verona and Italy Under-21 international defender Coppola, who was the best performer on the night in the Football Italia Player Ratings.

Coppola impressed on senior Italy debut

“I don’t know if I was Italy’s best player, but I certainly have to take some of the blame for this 3-0 defeat,” Coppola told RAI Sport and Sky Sport Italia.

“This was not the debut I was hoping for. We had completely the wrong approach, our first shot on goal came at the 80^th minute. I feel bad for the Italian fans, we have to do better in the next game.

“We were making mistakes with even the simplest passes, which allowed Norway to go on the counter-attack. We should’ve had a different interpretation of the game.”

Norway are now top of Group I with nine points from three matches, so are they a better team than Italy?

“Looking at the players, you cannot say Norway are a stronger squad, but you have to prove it on the pitch, aside from the names,” confessed Coppola.

“We made mistakes on their goals and I take my own share of that blame. We knew what they were going to do and still got it wrong.

“All the Norway goals were similar, they all came with runs from deep. We should’ve done better.”

Italy are back on the field on Monday evening against Moldova in Reggio Emilia and will be hoping to get off the mark.