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1) England failed to build on a bright start
It was like watching England reset itself to factory settings after enjoying a good opening 20 minutes of the match. If England were to take away anything from their quarter-final match against Italy, it was the night where their game plan has gone awry. The opening exchanges between the two teams suggested that England were counting heavily on their wide players to attack Italy from the flanks.
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Glen Johnson had a chance to score from six yards from the goal-line and his shot was parried away by Buffon. Johnson abandoned his post and charged forward more often and he almost provided the perfect ball for Rooney to score, but the Manchester United striker headed it wide. Soon after, Italy started imposing their style on the game and England retreated to their bunkers to save themselves from the artillery fire. Their defence was like a mirage on a hot desert; you see it but you can’t find it.
2) Andrea Pirlo is still Italy’s X-factor
Andrea Pirlo acted as an opera prompter for Italy’s front-line, feeding them long balls and opening England’s defence. He created as many chances as England would have had in their entire tournament. Pirlo and Mario Balotelli worked hand in glove to widen the visible cracks in England’s defence. Balotelli was very careless with the ball as he had no less than five opportunities to give Italy the lead in the first half. He was once again caught jaywalking – similar to the Ramos tackle on Mario – in the final third when he received a lobbed pass from Pirlo. He just had the distance between him and Joe Hart to cover, but John Terry was able to make a last ditch tackle.
Surprisingly, no effort was made to contain Pirlo and he had the time and freedom to calculate his next move, like a Chess Grand Master. He moved his pawns with a calculated risk and tried to checkmate the English before the match went into extra-time. At 33, Pirlo looked like the only player comfortable with the extended duration of play while the English players of his age were developing cramps. When the match went into penalties, a battle would have been raging in Pirlo’s mind on which side to send the dead ball.
Rooney had beaten Buffon and England were leading 2-1. Pirlo calmly walks to the penalty area and places the ball on the penalty spot. Taking a few steps backwards, he jogs sluggishly towards the ball. Hart dives to his right and the ball floats like a falling leaf down the middle into the net. Prandelli is amused by the cheeky effort and the Italian squad applauds despite shocked by Pirlo’s arrogance. It was a plot meant to demoralize Hart and he almost did the same against Barcelona in 2010 during a Champions League penalty shootout, but Barca ‘keeper Pinto stood his ground and Pirlo ruined AC Milan‘s chances of progressing.
3) Poor substitutions by the Three Lions
Roy Hodgson shot himself in the foot by bringing on Andy Carroll for Danny Welbeck. The Manchester United striker had to track back often to try and regain possession. Welbeck had a good chance to score in the first half when he combined brilliantly with Wayne Rooney, but he sent the ball over the bar. Carroll failed to hold on to the ball and he has failed to complete a pass 14 times. Theo Walcott made a huge impact coming off the bench against Sweden, but he was lost in the wave of passes between the Italians. However, Carroll headed a pass to Wayne Rooney inside the box before Rooney tried an over-head kick in the last minute of injury time.
4) The English let themselves down
England are their own worst enemy as they never played to their strengths in the entire tournament. Ashley Young never turned up for the Euros and Rooney had a mixed outing. The bold experiment of starting Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was never again brought down from the shelf. Scott Parker and Steven Gerrard were in two minds whether to attack or sit deep and protect their defence. Every match looked like England were playing for a draw and they had all access to Di Matteo’s Blueprints to defending with 10 men.
5) Italy need a new striker pairing for the clash against Germany
The Antonio Cassano and Balotelli combination doesn’t seem to be working for Italy. The pair have never linked up to set up each other in the three games that they have played together. Former West Ham striker Alessandro Diamanti should start ahead of Cassano as the former poses more threat to the opposition. Considering Balotelli’s movements to get behind the opposition defence, Diamanti should provide the support needed for the Manchester City striker.
