Sandro Tonali played a starring role in keeping Italy's World Cup dream alive as his goal and assist helped them earn a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland at New Balance Arena. 

Tonali netted a stunning 56th-minute opener before teeing up Moise Kean late on, edging Italy closer to a first appearance at FIFA's flagship tournament since 2014. 

Italy failed to test Pierce Charles in the opening 45 minutes, with Mateo Retegui shooting straight at the visiting goalkeeper on the stroke of half-time from inside the penalty area. 

A deflected shot from Riccardo Calafiori was comfortably gathered before Terry Devlin's poor backpass sent Retegui clean through on goal, but a combination of Charles and Brodie Spencer were able to thwart the Italy number nine. 

Moise Kean then forced a brilliant stop from Charles, but Italy's pressure finally told just before the hour, when Isaac Price's headed clearance dropped kindly to Tonali, who rifled the ball into the net from just outside the box. 

The win was sealed in the 80th minute by Kean, who brilliantly took down Tonali's looping cross before arrowing a low left-footed strike into the net, with the help of the left post. 

Data Debrief: King Kean goes five for five

Italy understood the importance of this game, and after their performance here, they will go into next Tuesday's play-off final with confidence, especially with Kean up front. 

He has now scored on each of his last five appearances for Italy (seven goals), becoming the first player to do so for the Azzurri since Salvatore Schillaci in July 1990.

But Tonali also impressed. The Newcastle United midfielder has now netted twice in his last five outings for Italy, as many as in his first 26 matches, while Inter's Federico Dimarco finished with team-high totals for chances created (four) and total crosses (16). 

Italy were certainly deserving of their win, having registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.4 from 19 shots, eight of which were on target, compared to Northern Ireland's 0.41 from eight attempts.