It was a pretty quiet first 35 minutes of the highly-anticipated Italy versus England match, with both teams playing relatively cautiously and looking to control possession of the ball. England had the better of the chances, with Jordan Henderson forcing a great save out of backup Italy goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu in the fifth minute and Daniel Sturridge just missing a Raheem Sterling cross in the 24th.
The Italians started to turn up the heat at the half hour mark, though, and in the 35th minute were rewarded when Claudio Marchisio fired a scintillating strike into the bottom left corner off of a cheeky dummy from veteran Andrea Pirlo:
No sooner had Italy finished celebrating than England’s Wayne Rooney had broken down the left side and, spotting Sturridgestreaking into the box, sent in a sensational left-footed cross:
Sturridge’s equalizer did not do anything to slow the pace either. Italy continued to be dangerous, and striker Mario Balotelli nearly caught England goalkeeper Joe Hart in no man’s land with a delightful chip, only for Phil Jagielka to clear it off the line with his head. Moments later on the final play of the half, Italy’s Antonio Candreva rattled the post with a shot, leaving England to get into the break with the score still level.
The pressure should mount from both teams in the second half, and it will likewise be interesting to see how the oppressive heat in the jungle city of Manaus begins to impact the players.
