Successful English rematch at the Euro. Italians have no points in Naples

The meeting was seen as an opportunity for England to take revenge for the European Championship final two years ago. Then at Wembley, the Italians won on penalties. Guests from the island won the match, which began the qualification for the next championship. At the Napoli stadium, they won 2-1.

Italy - England. Subtext match

The meeting was accompanied by several topics related to the match. First, the aforementioned rematch for the Eurofinal. Secondly, the opportunity for the Italians to compete for points with a strong opponent, because Italy did not play at last year’s World Cup. Thirdly, it was the first match since the death of assistant Roberto Mancini. Gianluca Vialli died after battling an illness. The national team honored his memory by placing a dedication to the Italian on the back of the jersey.

The game started without much initiative from either team. A goal in the 13th minute changed everything. The British bit their opponents with crosses. One of them tried to turn Harry Kane into a goal. His shot was deflected, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was helpless after rebounding Declan Rice. Since then, Gareth Southgate’s men have gained a greater optical advantage. We often kept the game in the opponent’s half, and also tried to build actions for the second goal. In the 32nd minute, Calvin Phillips came close to scoring the lead, but his long-range and dangerous shot was slightly off target.

When it seemed that the Italians were seizing the initiative, plans were thwarted by a handball by Giovanni Di Lorenzo. After reviewing VAR, referee Srdjan Jovanović awarded a penalty. Harry Kane scored from eleven meters in the 44th minute. For the Tottenham striker, it was the 54th goal in the national colors. Thus, he topped the ranking of the most productive players in the history of the England team. The Lions of Albion could have gone into the dressing room with a three-goal lead, but Jack Grealish landed a botched shot that missed Donnarumma’s empty net. Southgate’s team went to the dressing room at 2-0.

The ambitious pursuit of the Italians

The Italians approached the second half clearly charged. Until the 56th minute, this did not lead to good actions. Mancini’s players took the ball from England. Veratti moved on to Pellegrini, who found Mateo Retegui. The naturalized Argentine, who made his debut in the national team, beat Jordan Pickford with a confident strike from the center of the penalty area. It was evident from the game of the Italians that they wanted to follow the blow. The English were no longer as dominant as in the first half. Moreover, they could not exchange identically synthesized passes with each other. It was the hosts who kept the ball longer, but this did not lead to dangerous scoring situations.

The situation in the match was exacerbated by events around the 80th minute. Luke Shaw first received a yellow card for slowing down the game, and moments later received another one for a foul on a home player. The incident upset the players of both teams, who stopped the game. From that moment on, the British switched to defensive mode, and the Azzurri increased the pace of the game even more. In the 84th minute, they tried several times to score the ball into the English penalty area, but selflessly punched it out of their own goal. Mancini put everything on the line to get at least a point in Naples. He made offensive changes, but they didn’t work. It was England who ended the match with three points after a 2-1 win.

Euro 2024 Qualifying Group C

Having beaten Italy, England took the lead in Group C. In addition to them, North Macedonia, Malta and Ukraine are fighting for access to Germany. The first two countries met at the same time as the finalists of Euro 2020. The clash in Skopje ended in a 2-1 victory for the hosts.