Wembley was not a talisman for Italy this time. If in their previous visit they won Euro 2020 on penalties against England, now Harry Kane, with two goals, and Jude Bellingham, forcing a penalty and an assist, imposed their law and proved the qualification of ‘pros’ for Euro 2024.
The defeat relegated Italy to third place in group C after being overtaken by Ukraine, which takes three points from its win in Malta (1-3) although it has just one head-to-head match where the qualification will be played. against the ‘azzurra’ on November 20 in Leverkusen. Three days before, Italy will host North Macedonia, the team that left it in the 2022 World Cup.
Since the Euro Cup final, much has changed in the Italian team, starting with Luciano Spalletti, with only Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo and Barella appointed compared to the eleven shown by Roberto Mancini two years ago at Wembley. On the other hand, in Gareth Southgate’s formation there are only three new additions: Foden, Rashford and Bellingham, the three in midfield.
The match, as finally decided by penalties, was even. England began to move the ball well, but Italy, inspired by the offensive spirit of Spalletti, always looked for the opponent’s goal by quickly coming out of judgment and surprised him on his first arrival.
Scamacca advanced into Italy
It was a great game where the ball passed from the left wing to the right, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo putting a low cross at the near post, Davide Frattesi missing the shot and Gianluca Scamacca, formerly of West Ham, shot at the goalmouth (fifteen ‘).
After the goal, England struggled to prepare due to Italian pressure and could not provide fluidity to their game. Scamacca silenced Wembley again but this time his shot missed the target.
Bellingham stepped in and forced the penalty
That’s when the differentiating factor appeared: Bellingham. The Madrid player, who showed his power and quality in midfield behind Kane, forced Gianluigi Donnarumma to intervene with a header from the middle.
About a minute later the English ’10’ burst through the middle like an arrow to pick up the ball which Kane controlled and Di Lorenzo arrived late to cut off his advance. The captain converted the penalty (32′) and reached 60 goals in 87 international matches.
Bellingham made it 2-1
Italy did not lose the match and, after another good triangulation, Jordan Pickford got a shot from Destiny Udogie on target in stoppage time in the first half.
After the break, Bellingham lost their balance again, took the ball from the English half of the field, started a counterattack with his impressive step and sent it to the left, where Marcus Rashford did the rest with a perfect diagonal finish in a strong satin shot (57′).
Kane escapes and sentence
Italy tried to get back into the game through Scamacca with a shot that didn’t faze Pickford. The finish for the ‘Azzurra’ came with a long delivery from the recently arrived Marc Guéhi, Alessandro Bastoni misjudged the jump almost in the middle of the field and made a bad clearance, leaving the way for Kane to escape alone and beat Donnarumma (77′).
‘Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we’re going to Germany’, the Wembley stands began to sing. A draw would have been enough for England to qualify for Euro 2024, but they confirmed their ticket by confirming their almost perfect record, with five wins and a draw.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
