For the first half an hour it looked like a different story might be possible, but then Italy began to get control of the game and once established they never lost it. Italy did everything right except for that final touch. They missed a series of absolute sitters that should have seen England buried in the ninety minutes.
For that first half hour, England were lively, taking the game to Italy and looking equal to the task. Milner and Young got forward when England had the ball. Welbeck and Rooney had fluid moves on the ball and guarded Pirlo off the ball. But gradually it came apart. Italy’s passing was far better and England began to drop deeper. Ashley Young in particular had difficulty keeping the ball and the pressure grew. England never lost their shape, but it turned into an attack v defence training session.
England’s defence played well, all of them. That’s how we got to 120 minutes at nil-nil. Lescott has gone up in my estimation. I never understood how he got in the England team ahead of various others but he has used the opportunity well and last night he was excellent. John Terry has never, in my view, been a technically great player on the ball and now he lacks a little pace. But he has always had a fantastic sense of where the danger is and put himself there for the tackle or block time and again.
For the first time I think Roy Hodgson got a substitution wrong. It was Young who needed to come off rather than Milner. But it made no real difference anyway. By then England were just lumping the ball forward for some respite care, but Wayne Rooney had neither the legs or the support to do anything with it or even keep it for long.
So in the end we lost on penalties. Much is being made of that this morning, but shoot-outs are a lottery and the right team went through. England were good for a quarter-final place but a semi would have been undeserved. A good start from Roy Hodgson but still a hell of a job to do.
