Did the marquee match of the day live up to expectations?
It damn sure did.
The match from Italy’s standpoint didn’t start off with a parade of shots at the goal. The Azzurri were very methodical. Andrea Pirlo was the main reason behind this. His pace in the midfield along with cleverness made England back off and essentially give him free reign to knock the ball around to whomever.
Then it happened. After a corner kick was played into Pirlo, he pulls off a cunning dummy and lets the ball come to the feet of Claudio Marchisio who strikes it past the goalie Joe Hart to put Italy up 1-nil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opXuz3raxQ
Not to be outdone, The Three Lions’ Daniel Sturridge comes barreling down the middle of the pitch with Wayne Rooney leading the charge on the left flank; Rooney lofts a beautiful ball right into the path of Sturridge and the rest is history. Mind you, this came two minutes after Marchisio’s goal.
Unfortunately, that was all England had in the tank as Italy’s star striker Mario Balotelli comes through in the 49th minute with a world-class header assisted by Antonio Candreva.
Most of the second half consisted of efforts from England’s future star winger Raheem Sterling. The 19 year-old’s pace and skill was evident; throughout the match he was giving the Italian defense fits. But this was all for not, as every opportunity England had was squandered by poor first touches and no bodies in the box.
