England won in Italy for the first time in 62 years
Scoring: Retegui 56' - Rice 13, Kane 44' (pen)
Red card: Shaw 80'
Just like the Euro 2020 final, England soon opened the scoring when facing Italy. But unlike the match at Wembley two years ago, Gareth Southgate's teachers and students took advantage of the lead to win the final. England broke the circuit for six full draws and lost to Italy, and won at the opponent's field for the first time since 1961.
He exerted great pressure from the beginning of the match despite having to be a guest at Diego Armando Maradona. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma soon had to show his talent, after the steps of Buyako Saka and Jude Bellingham. But in the 13th minute, the Italian goalkeeper still had to go into the net to pick up the ball. From Saka's corner, Harry Kane hit the Italian player, before Declan Rice kicked the left foot, scoring the third goal in 40 appearances for "Three Lions".
A good game in the first half with 61% ball control was concretized by Southgate's students by doubling the difference at the end of the half. Still from Saka's corner, the ball touched defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo's hand. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded England a penalty. Harry Kane scored, thereby surpassing Wayne Rooney to monopolize the scoring record for the "Three Lions" with 54 goals in 81 matches.
Before hosting England, Italy was unbeaten in the last 40 matches in the Euro qualifiers, including 14 wins. In the past 24 years, they have not lost at home in the Euro qualifiers. Coach Roberto Mancini also wants the players to rebuild from the rubble, after not qualifying for the World Cup 2022. Therefore, the host played decisively right after the break. It took just over 10 minutes for Italy to get the result with a 1-2 equalizer.
The scorer for the host is Mateo Retegui. In his first time on the national team, the 23-year-old player with dual Argentine and Italian citizenship handled calmly and defeated Jordan Pickford, after a pass from Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Italy continued to pressure England in the second half - the half in which the "Three Lions" only held the ball 40% and did not finish a single time. Things became more difficult for Southgate's men, as Luke Shaw received two yellow cards in three minutes and was sent off after 80 minutes. The first card came after buying time.
In the remaining minutes, Italy continuously bombarded Pickford's goal, but England still stood firm and won the first three points in qualifying. Gareth Southgate becomes the third coach of the "Three Lions" to reach 50 wins.
He topped Group C with North Macedonia - the team beat Malta 2-1 in the first match. In the next match, England will host Ukraine and Italy will be a guest at Malta.
