DHAKA: It’s taken a while but England finally played decent football at a major international tournament. Unfortunately, their vastly improved performance from recent years still ended in a 2-1 defeat to Italy in their opening game of the 2014 World Cup. However, the positive is that they weren’t exactly ‘outplayed’ by the better team, but perhaps out-thought.
Prior to the game, Italy manager Cesare Prandelli admitted to the pace England posed in attack and also acknowledged their influx of young technical players. He was well aware of their ability to break swiftly and devised a ploy to negate that danger.
Italy were determined to consign the game to a low tempo so they could have better control over it. In an end-to-end encounter, England’s pace and athleticism would’ve blown them away. They sat deep when without possession and advanced slowly with it as Andrea Pirlo cautiously escorted the rest of the team forward in unison.
The Juventus midfield maestro used short passes as Italy gradually advanced up the pitch and reserved his range of long passes primarily to switch play when they were camped forward and working on breaking down England’s defense.
The result was that they were protected against the counter-attack even when going on the front foot. They scarcely afforded England the chance to break. The Three Lions on the other hand chose not to press their opponents high up the pitch until they were forced to in the dying moments, perhaps in an effort to invite them forward, leaving them open to the counter.
However, their plan backfired as Italy weren’t taking the bait, content instead to pass it around at the back before slowly advancing. They never committed too many bodies forward and were therefore rarely susceptible to the counter-attack. The always took a measured approach as far as their forays forward were concerned.
With Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck in attack, England had the pace at their disposal but were hardly afforded the opportunity to use it. Even Italy’s opening goal reeked of intelligence. A well-worked corner that included a clever dummy from Pirlo ended with a precise long-range effort from Claudio Marchisio that left Joe Hart beaten.
Perhaps their celebrations hindered their ability to get back into shape quickly as England finally got in behind their defense with a through ball from Sterling. The Manchester United striker then sent in a delicious cross with his left foot for Sturridge to tap in. That was a rare occasion in which England’s pace breached Italy’s backline.
Italy took the lead again in the second half thanks to a Mario Balotelli header from an inch-perfect Antonio Candreva cross. From then on, they basically issued England a challenge to break them down. Only Itallians could make a precarious 2-1 lead look comfortable. In fact, they seemed confident of their slender advantage as they shut up shop fairly early.
Prandelli effectively replaced Roy Hodgson’s sword with a bamboo stick by negating England’s pace on the counter. Pirlo was superb and Italy did play well but at the end of the day, England’ restriction on their biggest strength cost them.
There are still plenty of positives for Hodgson to derive from the defeat and he will be confident of beating Uruguay and Costa Rica if they play the same way. With the latter pulling off an upset earlier, the group is still wide open.
England have a good chance of progressing past the group stages and if their performance against Italy was a sign of things to come, then their survival in the tournament would be a blessing for the neutrals as well.
BDST: 0847 HRS, JUNE 15, 2014
