Tonight, Gattuso's Italy face O'Neill's Northern Ireland. While the Italian coach has sleepless nights, his Irish colleague is a little more relaxed. Because he knows how to get the four-time world champions' team out of the way.
As a player, Gennaro Gattuso couldn't sleep before important games. As a coach, he is more or less the same. At least he can now rely on the help of sleeping pills prescribed by his doctor.
The whole of Italy - this proud four-time world champion - is eagerly awaiting tonight's first play-off game against Northern Ireland. Defeat and missing out on the World Cup would be a debacle.
"I wake up at 4.30 or 5 a.m. and my eyes are wide open like a bat's," says Gattuso. He carries the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders. The former AC Milan midfielder, who has taken over from Luciano Spalletti, has won five of his six games in charge. But that's not enough. Not yet.
"I've been coaching for a few years now, but this game is definitely the most important of my coaching career so far," he says. "I'm prepared and believe me, I'm not thinking about how it could go wrong, I'm thinking positively."
"I know how to make it difficult for Italy"
On the other side is Michael O'Neill, the man who was entrusted with a similar task in 2012: He was supposed to lead the Northern Ireland national team out of the crisis. Four years later, his charges qualified for the European Championships. "The pressure you feel as a coach in Italy is very different to that in Northern Ireland," says O'Neill down-to-earthly at the pre-match press conference.
He adds: "This stadium is similar to ours in Belfast. I think it will be a great atmosphere, we have to try and make the game difficult for Italy so the psychological aspect will play a part."
And how will they make it difficult for the Azzurri? The Northern Irish coach has clear ideas: "By staying in the game, the pressure on the favored team will be all the greater. The longer it's 0-0. We expect a very difficult start, but we can also be dangerous, especially on the counter-attack." However, the 56-year-old is not expecting a game with lots of goals: "We're hoping for a very close game," he says.
O'Neill is aware of the quality of the Italian midfield with Tonali, Locatelli and Barella, but also knows that he is not up against the Italy of the 2006 World Cup. "This team doesn't have a Del Piero or a Totti. Their strength lies in the team. But we respect them because they have players at a high level."
Courage from the world champion coach
The "Gazzetta dello Sport" published an interview with Marcello Lippi, who says that coach Gattuso reminds him of himself. The now 77-year-old led Italy to their fourth and final World Cup title in 2006. Since then, our southern neighbors have not played a knockout game at a World Cup. One of his players back then was Gennaro "Ringhio" Gattuso.
"We're going to make it, Rino. We're all with you and we're all going to the World Cup together," said the now retired coach in an interview. "You deserved to qualify because you were always so passionate about what you were doing. On the pitch, as a coach and in life. I wish you the best of luck, my friend. You have a great team and you will do everything you can not to miss this tournament, which we have been missing for far too long."
