WC-MOTD3
Day 3:-
England vs. Italy:-
6 months of build-up to this game were justified by every passing minute in Manaus tonight!
The match started out with England opting to play a high-press sort of game as was expected of them; taking a shot or two from distance whenever the chance presented itself. At the time, Italy were having difficulties adapting to the rhythm of the game and were showing signs of nervousness.
Coach Roy Hodgson set-up his team in a way that they were constantly lining almost two banks of players around Andrea Pirlo and it certainly seemed to suffocate Italy’s play going forward.
De Rossi spent a good part of the first half acting more of a sweeper than a natural DM and both teams were a tad cautious in their offensive and defensive approaches. It took a while for Italy to get into the game and England’s abundance of pace was causing the Italian back-line all sorts of problems; with Paletta clearly being the weakest link.
The final 10 minutes of the 1st half saw, firstly, Italy defy the run of play and go ahead through a Marchisio screamer that managed to find the back of the net due to England’s congestive defensive area blocking Hart’s path of view. Shortly afterwards, Sterling played Rooney through down the left, where Darmian was out of position, and the Manchester United man, in turn, fed Sturridge with a brilliant cross; with the Liverpool forward capitalizing to make it 1-1 heading into half-time.
It was a rather interesting first half (particularly from Hodgson’s side) and England were clearly the more potent side in attack; whereas Italy seemed somewhat toothless up-front and considerably vulnerable at the back.
It didn’t take quite long into the second half for Italy to go through courtesy of Candreva’s brilliant technique to find himself proper space before unleashing a near-perfect far-post cross which Balotelli calmly placed in the back of the net.
England were quick to press Italy back into their own half; launching numerous low crosses into the box and attempting to exploits the ever-apparent gaps in Italy’s defense.
Ross Barkley was introduced to try and offer England more dynamism in midfield and it would be an understatement to say that he did just that; proving to create a real buzz for the English in attack and carrying a real threat every time they went forward.
Coach Cesare Prandelli was happy to “shut up shop” at that point of the game, while England continued to properly press Italy back into their final third.
The last stages of the game saw fatigue really kick-in amidst Manaus’ utterly humid conditions and both sets of players were not offering much in terms of attacking vigor. Much of England’s play focused on set-piece deliveries from then on; as they seemed unable to create any real chances from open play through Italy’s midfield areas as the game faded-out.
All in all, England were quite convincing for large parts of both halves of the game and were somewhat unlucky to NOT finish the game with at least a draw for their brave and, sometimes, eye-catching efforts on goal. Their intensity dropped after conceding that second goal and fatigue was a big factor in the latter stages of the game.
Italy got it right, to an extent, in the second half and surely Coach Prandelli has major issues to address in regards to his back-line in order to improve and build on what they have achieved tonight.
Man of the match (This is a pretty tough one! Though it would have been relatively easy had England tied or won):
Salvatore Sirigu: He had a lot of pressure on him to fill Buffon’s shoes on such short notice in such circumstances; but he came through rather well and put in a respectable performance.
England vs. Italy:-
6 months of build-up to this game were justified by every passing minute in Manaus tonight!
The match started out with England opting to play a high-press sort of game as was expected of them; taking a shot or two from distance whenever the chance presented itself. At the time, Italy were having difficulties adapting to the rhythm of the game and were showing signs of nervousness.
Coach Roy Hodgson set-up his team in a way that they were constantly lining almost two banks of players around Andrea Pirlo and it certainly seemed to suffocate Italy’s play going forward.
De Rossi spent a good part of the first half acting more of a sweeper than a natural DM and both teams were a tad cautious in their offensive and defensive approaches. It took a while for Italy to get into the game and England’s abundance of pace was causing the Italian back-line all sorts of problems; with Paletta clearly being the weakest link.
The final 10 minutes of the 1st half saw, firstly, Italy defy the run of play and go ahead through a Marchisio screamer that managed to find the back of the net due to England’s congestive defensive area blocking Hart’s path of view. Shortly afterwards, Sterling played Rooney through down the left, where Darmian was out of position, and the Manchester United man, in turn, fed Sturridge with a brilliant cross; with the Liverpool forward capitalizing to make it 1-1 heading into half-time.
It was a rather interesting first half (particularly from Hodgson’s side) and England were clearly the more potent side in attack; whereas Italy seemed somewhat toothless up-front and considerably vulnerable at the back.
It didn’t take quite long into the second half for Italy to go through courtesy of Candreva’s brilliant technique to find himself proper space before unleashing a near-perfect far-post cross which Balotelli calmly placed in the back of the net.
England were quick to press Italy back into their own half; launching numerous low crosses into the box and attempting to exploits the ever-apparent gaps in Italy’s defense.
Ross Barkley was introduced to try and offer England more dynamism in midfield and it would be an understatement to say that he did just that; proving to create a real buzz for the English in attack and carrying a real threat every time they went forward.
Coach Cesare Prandelli was happy to “shut up shop” at that point of the game, while England continued to properly press Italy back into their final third.
The last stages of the game saw fatigue really kick-in amidst Manaus’ utterly humid conditions and both sets of players were not offering much in terms of attacking vigor. Much of England’s play focused on set-piece deliveries from then on; as they seemed unable to create any real chances from open play through Italy’s midfield areas as the game faded-out.
All in all, England were quite convincing for large parts of both halves of the game and were somewhat unlucky to NOT finish the game with at least a draw for their brave and, sometimes, eye-catching efforts on goal. Their intensity dropped after conceding that second goal and fatigue was a big factor in the latter stages of the game.
Italy got it right, to an extent, in the second half and surely Coach Prandelli has major issues to address in regards to his back-line in order to improve and build on what they have achieved tonight.
Man of the match (This is a pretty tough one! Though it would have been relatively easy had England tied or won):
Salvatore Sirigu: He had a lot of pressure on him to fill Buffon’s shoes on such short notice in such circumstances; but he came through rather well and put in a respectable performance.
Ahmad Al-Omar - 15. Jun, 03:30
