Completely dominating their opponents in the last three encounters (two wins, one draw), including an emotional victory in the penalty shootout of the Euro 2020 final, but even when playing at home, the Italian team seemed quite inferior in the reunion with the English after two years. The battle for the top spot in Group C in the Euro 2024 qualifiers this time was "hot" from the start when the two most promising candidates had to face off in the opening match.
Italy get off to an exciting start in Napoli
With the support of a large home crowd, the Italian team entered the match with confidence and continuously caused trouble in front of England's goalie Jordan Pickford. However, the away team did not take too long to stabilize their play, quickly regaining control of the game with a variety of attacks.
Tonali and Gnonto prevent Harry Kane from dribbling
In the 13th minute, from a right-wing corner kick by Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane's shot bounced off the home defender Di Lorenzo and Declan Rice quickly kicked the ball into the net, opening the score for England. With the goal to break the deadlock, England played even better. Kalvin Phillips and Jude Bellingham continuously almost created great long-range shots that made Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal wobble.
Declan Rice (4) opened the scoring for England
In the 41st minute, from a right-wing corner kick by Bukayo Saka, Di Lorenzo let the ball touch his hand in the Italian penalty area. The referee, with the advice of VAR, awarded England a penalty and from the 11m mark, Harry Kane easily defeated goalkeeper Donnarumma to double the gap for England. This was Harry Kane's 54th goal and he surpassed Wayne Rooney to set a new scoring record for England.
Harry Kane sets new scoring record for England
Before the first half ended, Harry Kane made a very favorable pass to Jack Grealish, but the Man City midfielder finished colorfully, the ball went wide, which was very regrettable. This missed opportunity almost cost England because in the second half, they did not make any dangerous attacks, on the contrary, Harry Maguire also passed the ball incorrectly, creating opportunities for the home players to attack. As a result, in the 56th minute, Jordan Pickford's net shook after a close-range shot by Mateo Retegui, the striker that coach Roberto Mancini "discovered" and brought back to the Italian team from the Argentine championship!
Mateo Retegui (19) shortens the gap for the Italian team
It was a pity for the home team that they did not have any more goals, even with the advantage of playing with one more man from the 79th minute after the away team's defender Luke Shaw received two yellow cards and had to leave the field.
Luke Shaw (3) was sent off.
Winning 2-1 away at Napoli, England partly paid off the "debt" of losing in the Euro final 2 years ago, and also defeated Italy for the first time in an official match since 1977 after 4 matches with only draws and losses.
...but the British still had their first victory in 46 years
In the same match, North Macedonia beat Malta 2-1 to join England at the top of Group C after the opening round of matches. Italy fell to the bottom of the group, behind both Malta and Ukraine, who have yet to play this round.
Ronaldo scored his 119th and 120th goals for Portugal as his side beat Liechtenstein 4-0 to top Group J. Bosnia beat Iceland 3-0 to finish just behind Portugal. Denmark beat Finland 3-1 to top Group H while Northern Ireland moved into second place after a 2-0 win over San Marino.
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