A very good win!
I think you should be England manager
England - The Roaring Lions
My new story which will see Roy Hodgson hopefully guide England to World Cup Success
Great win against Bulgaria.
I think you should be England manager
I think you should be England manager
England and Italy set for 2nd round clash
England will take on Italy in the second round of Euro 2016 which will take place at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
The match will take place 25th of June with all tickets sold out, making this game one of the highlights of the round. England took on Italy in the World Cup Group Stage with the final result ending in a 1-1 draw, however Italy crashed out of the tournament in the next round whereas England overachieved and won the trophy.
England finished top of their group whilst Italy came second just behind Denmark in Group F, hence why both teams were drawn to face each-other. Italy will be boosted as their star striker Mario Balotelli will be fit for the game after picking up a knock against Finland whereas England have no new injury news.
Both managers had their say on the tie with Roy Hodgson firstly speaking the BBC Sport after the news had come through about the second round draw;
Roy Hodgson
"We knew that if we finished top of our group we'd possibly get an easier challenge than finishing second but due to how each European team has progressed in these past few years you cannot count any game as an easy one and this one is no different as we've seen what a force Italy can be."
"We are going to treat this as just any other game as we progressed well using that mentality in the World Cup which saw us take home to trophy. I'm trusting the players to perform to their best ability and I know if they give a hundred and ten percent that we'll progress to the next round."
Then we got news from our sources that Cesare Prandelli had spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport when the news came through to the Italy camp;
Cesare Prandelli
"Inghilterra, una squadra molto difficile da affrontare come abbiamo visto nella Coppa del Mondo, tuttavia ho fiducia che si possa rovesciare il pronostico e sconfiggerli. Abbiamo un forte spirito di squadra e con la quantità di talento in squadra, siamo in grado di vincere questa cravatta.
Si tratta di un boost che Mario è tornato nel momento in cui egli è uno dei nostri più importanti attori e con lui la squadra penso che possono causare molti problemi per l'Inghilterra la difesa se prendiamo le nostre possibilità."
"England are a very tough team to face as we've seen in the World Cup, however I have confidence that we can overturn the odds and defeat them. We have a strong team spirit and with the amount of talent we have within the squad, we are more than capable of winning this tie.
It's a boost that Mario has returned in time as he's one of our most important players and with him in the squad I think we can cause many problems for the England defence if we take our chances well."
Lovely graphic and layout to the update!
That will be a fairly tough game but I know you will get through anyway
That will be a fairly tough game but I know you will get through anyway
Awesome update, love the little touch of putting it in Italian and the graphic looks cool too!
Best of lucky against Italy...however, the Bergomi and Totti inside of me is pulling for Prandelli's men 
@Josh: Thanks a lot pal! It's going to be a tough game indeed!
@Aaron: Thanks man.
@Walt: Thank you Walt.
@Neal: Aha, but of course
@Feliks: Thank you!
@Aaron: Thanks man.
@Walt: Thank you Walt.
@Neal: Aha, but of course
@Feliks: Thank you!
Late goal the difference as England progress
An injury time winner from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain knocked Italy out of the Euro's as England progressed into the quarter finals.
England finished first in their group, with nine points out of a possible nine and looked ready for the challenge of Italy, who achieved just five points from nine but still progressed. Italy were boosted as Mario Balotelli returned from injury meaning Italy were at full strength to take on the World Champions.
England XI vs Italy
(4-3-3) Hart; Clyne, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Jones, Ward-Prowse, Henderson; Lallana(c), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck.
Subs: Butland, Caulker, Barkley, Sturridge, Rooney, Walcott, Powell.
Italy XI vs England
(4-2-3-1) Sirigu; De Sciligo, Ogbonna, Astori, Santon; Florenzi, De Rossi(c); Poli, Bertolacci, Berardi; Balotelli.
Subs: Consigli, Bonucci, Criscito, Verrati, Marchisio, Candreva.
First Half
Italy kicked off and immediately started to dictate the tempo, with Poli finding De Rossi, who recycled the ball back to Ogbonna. This cycle repeated itself within the opening few minutes, with a highly anticipated start failing to impress. England were unable to get a spell of possession in the first 10 minutes, showing Italy's dominance in and around the midfield.
Poli was at the heart of the Italian passing, finding his team-mates who were making 30 and 40 yard runs past the England defenders, with Berardi connecting well with the ball but the linesman deemed it as offside giving England a first spell of possession from the free-kick. Henderson tried to release Oxlade-Chamberlain but a good sliding tackle from De Rossi stopped Henderson finding his team-mate.
The first chance of the game came to Italy as De Rossi found Santon, who had advanced up the wing and the Newcastle full-back played a deep cross into England's six yard box where Mario Balotelli got in ahead of Jagielka and made good contact with the ball, however, Joe Hart was on his toes as he dived to his right and parried the ball away and out of danger, finding Clyne, who smashed the ball down the pitch for an Italian throw.
Joe Hart was able to parry the ball away from danger after Mario Balotelli connected well with a cross.
England tried to recover from the relentless Italian attacks but they struggled to keep possession, as Florenzi and Berardi were instructed to press any England player who had possession, with both Henderson, Jones and Ward-Prowse having to up the tempo to pass around the two Italian midfielders and try to start an attack.
The half drew to a close with the biggest chance going to Mario Balotelli and Italy but the forward was denied by a superb save from Joe Hart who parried his former team-mates header away from danger. The scoreline at this point was probably the right one as both teams struggled to created many chances.
Second Half
England kicked off the second half and looked more fired up, with Henderson finding Welbeck, who played the ball forward to Lallana. Their play seemed more positive as they tried to advance more forward and put the pressure on the Italians and Welbeck found half a yard and had a shot which skimmed the top of the crossbar.
Italy seemed to play more safer than they did in the first half, with less runs being made from their attacking players leaving the midfielders to become more compact in the centre of the pitch, allowing the England wingers to widen the play as Henderson won possession from De Rossi and sprayed the ball towards his right were Oxlade-Chamberlain was in bags of space. The Arsenal winger then ran towards the Italian box, skipping past a lazy challenge from Santon and found himself with enough space to take the shot, however he smartly cut the ball back for Ward-Prowse who drilled a low shot at the goal forcing Sirigu to nervously tip the ball over for a corner.
Lallana delivered the corner towards the far post where Cahill rose highest and headed the ball towards the goal which forced Sirigu into punching the ball up into the air but the PSG keeper was able to hold onto the ball the second time of asking, trying to slow down the tempo of the game by passing it to Ogbonna, who kept it simple and made short passes with his fellow team-mates.
With the game going into injury time and extra time looking likely, De Rossi had his long pass cut out by Phil Jones and the Manchester United midfielder looked up and saw Welbeck in space, he played it forward to his club team-mate and the forward took two Italian defenders out of the game with a smart pass towards Adam Lallana making it a 2 on 2 situation as Oxlade-Chamberlain emerged onto the scene from the right. Lallana passed it to Oxlade-Chamberlain and the winger put his foot through the ball and watched it curl past Sirigu and into the top corner to give England the lead and almost guarantee victory.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored late into injury time with a 20 yard screamer to almost guarantee victory for England.
The whole England team celebrated with joy but manager Roy Hodgson went over to his team and told them to concentrate as Italy were likely to throw everything at England with just 2 minutes of injury time left to play. Hodgson instructed his whole team to play defensive and keep in shape to deny Italy any openings to equalise.
The Italians pushed and pushed but Phil Jones put in a superb defensive display as he made two slide tackles back-to-back to deny Italy any chances within the final third and the referee then blew for full-time which meant England were going through into the quarter-finals at the expense of Italy who crashed out of the competition.
Roy Hodgson's Post Match Comments:
(Yes, Roy now has a new face.)
"What a performance from us out there today, our defensive work was top notch throughout and to win by a late goal just shows how football matches can go. Regardless of how much possession you have, or how many shots on target, anything can happen within a game of football and what Alex did today just shows that. It was a beautiful finish, he's really shown his talent throughout this competition and we are honoured to have a player like him within the team."
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's Comments:
"I'm really happy that we've won today, especially by me getting the winning goal but it was a team effort and everyone added something to earn us this victory. I'm relishing the chance to play in the quarter-final and perform to my very best regardless of the opposition."
Good match !
A really good update! Generally related to Italy, but congrats on the win!
Good luck in the future!
A really good update! Generally related to Italy, but congrats on the win!
Good luck in the future!
A very good win mate!
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