{"id":573672,"date":"2026-03-31T21:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/573672\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T21:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:03:09","slug":"fans-gather-in-torontos-little-italy-to-watch-world-cup-qualifier-against-bosnia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/573672\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans gather in Toronto\u2019s Little Italy to watch World Cup qualifier against Bosnia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774990989_764_imageRedirect.jpeg\" class=\"object-fit-cover\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Italy&#8217;s Gianluca Mancini, left, and Bosnia&#8217;s Ermedin Demirovic tussle during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Armin Durgut)<\/p>\n<p>By The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tMar 31, 2026 | 1:51 PM\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>TORONTO \u2014 Hopeful fans have packed a cafe in the heart of Toronto\u2019s Little Italy to cheer on the Italian soccer team as it looks to secure a spot in the FIFA World Cup and face Canada in the country\u2019s opening match.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s playoff game between Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina will determine who joins Canada, Qatar and Switzerland in Group B at the tournament, and plays against Canada in Toronto on June 12. <\/p>\n<p>At Cafe Diplomatico on College Street, dozens of fans decked out in blue and white \u2014 the colours of Italy\u2019s national team \u2014 are sipping drinks and eating with their eyes glued on the TV screens in the restaurant. <\/p>\n<p>The crowd erupted in cheers when Italy scored the first goal of the match played at a stadium in Zenica, Bosnia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy&#8217;s Gianluca Mancini, left, and Bosnia&#8217;s Ermedin Demirovic tussle during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-573672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}