While Northern Ireland finished third in the qualification group behind Germany and Slovakia, their Nations League performance was enough to secure a play-off berth.
However, Italy have not exactly been riding the crest of a wave of late with Gennaro Gattuso’s men finishing second in their group behind Norway, suffering a 3-0 away loss and 4-1 home hammering in their final group game.
“I suppose we would have preferred one of the other teams in Pot One, but to get to the World Cup, you’re going to have to beat two good teams,” added O’Neill.
“Italy away is going to be a massive game, a great game for us to be involved in. The expectation and pressure is very much on the Italians, so we will need to use that in our favour.
“I know they’ve lost home and away to Norway and the bulk of their squad is based in Serie A. Gattuso is their manager, so you will expect them not to be lacking in passion.
“We have four months to prepare for this and look at Italy in close detail, so the work will start today and tomorrow.”
That Italy could miss out on a third straight World Cup almost defies belief, considering they have won the competition four times in their history.
However, their failure to reach the 2018 tournament in Russia and Qatar 2022 both came as a result of play-off defeats.
That may give Northern Ireland hope, but O’Neill insisted his team must get their own house in order for their semi-final tie.
“The Italian team of now is not going to be the Italian team of eight years ago,” he countered.
“Not all their players are going to carry the burden of having been unsuccessful in play-off games. As a nation, they carry that burden, and the expectation of their crowd will be that they go to a World Cup.
“They have won it four times and are one of the heavyweights of world football, but those things are out of our control and our focus will be on how we are.”