“Vicario the Wall: One Man Keeps Italy’s World Cup Dream Alive”

Italy kept their slim World Cup dreams alive on Thursday night — and Guglielmo Vicario played a starring role. In a tense qualifying clash in Chisinau, the Spurs goalkeeper delivered another ice-cold clean sheet to back a hard-fought 2–0 win over Moldova.

The match teetered on a knife’s edge for most of the evening. Despite dominating possession and peppering the opposition with 28 attempts, Italy couldn’t find the breakthrough. It wasn’t until the 88th minute that Gianluca Mancini finally opened the scoring, latching onto a cross from substitute Federico Dimarco to nod home a header.

And then, in stoppage time, Francesco Pio Esposito sealed the deal — rising to head in Matteo Politano’s cross and give the Azzurri a two-goal cushion.

All night, Vicario stayed composed under pressure. He had very little to do — just one real save — but was alert and authoritative when tested, keeping the clean sheet intact.

The victory lifts Italy to 18 points, just three behind group leaders Norway. But even with the win, their path to automatic qualification is extremely steep: they’ll need to overturn a 17-goal deficit in goal difference when they face Norway in their final qualifier.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso admitted it wasn’t easy — rotating the squad and breaking down Moldova’s defense proved challenging — but he praised his players for seeing it through.

For Vicario, this performance may be the most decisive of his season yet. In a moment when Italy needed someone to stand tall, he did exactly that.