Prior to the game, the statistics from the Euro 2012 group phase suggested that Italy would have the edge in this one; a superior possession average (51.7% to England’s 42.3%), more shots on target (18 to 10) and fewer shots given away (38 to 53).
History favoured the Azzurri too. For two of Europe’s major football nations, it’s surprising that they’ve only met twice previously in finals tournaments and one of those was a third place play-off (the one match no team wants to be contesting) at the 1990 World Cup. Italy had won both of the tournament meetings, and England had never beaten a previous World Cup or European Championship winner outside Wembley in the knockout stages of a major tournament.
In terms of starting line-ups, England were unchanged from the team that beat Ukraine, whilst Italy made two changes, with Montolivo in for Motta and Balotelli replacing Di Natale.
Both teams looked shaky early on; De Rossi hit the post from distance after just three minutes, and at the other end Glen Johnson didn’t appear to believe he was genuinely in a goal scoring position shortly afterwards, and the chance went begging. It turned out to be England’s only shot on target all night.
- Pirlo: Allowed too much time on the ball
In the 24th minute, Andrea Pirlo was given freedom by England to stroll through the Italian half, and he played the first key pass of the match to Mario Balotelli, though fortunately for England, John Terry was on hand to block the shot. Surprisingly, England failed to close Pirlo down all evening; the Italian legend had 155 touches of the ball in the whole match, whereas England’s top two for touches (Hart and Cole) only managed 150 between them. The Juventus man truly was a cut-above all night.
At half time Italy lead on key passes by four to nil, and shots by ten to two according to Squawka stats, but the match remained without a goal. Four of England’s five goals in the group stage came from crosses, and the tactic continued to be used tonight as England attempted twelve in the first half. That they only completed two contributed to their lack of chances in the opening forty-five minutes. Indeed, they didn’t complete a cross successfully between the 13th and 90th minute, and only three were successful all evening.
The pattern of the first half was repeated in the second forty-five, as Italy had nine shots to England’s four. The chart below shows how the Squawka Player Performance Rating of the two teams progressed as the ninety minutes did. Safe to say that Italy appeared rarely troubled by England’s huffing and puffing, and it was only the Three Lions’ stout defending that earned them an upturn in score towards the end.
- Squawka Performance score over 90 minutes
So what of England as an attacking threat? In truth they rarely posed one; whilst Rooney was clearly lacking an edge, understandably so having not played much football lately, he almost had a ‘David Platt’ moment in the last minute of injury-time, but his overhead kick cleared the bar by some distance, and that was about it. And so to extra time…
The pattern of the first ninety minutes continued; Italy tried to probe for an opening, whilst England relied almost solely on set pieces. In the second period, Italy had the ball in the net, but fortunately for England, they caught an opposition player offside for only the second time in the tournament and lived to fight another day in the penalty shootout.
The stats at the end of 120 minutes showed there should only have been one winner. For instance, England had one shot on target, whilst Mario Balotelli had five on his own according to Squawka stats. Similarly the Three Lions’ four key passes were outshone by Pirlo and Marchisio, who provided six apiece. But the match finished goal-less, which is the first time this has occurred at Euro 2012.
Ahead of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals, England and Italy were the two teams with the worst records in penalty shoot-outs; a single win from six attempts for the Three Lions, and just two victories from seven for the Azzurri (albeit one of those won them a World Cup final, so it shouldn’t be underplayed).
After Balotelli and Gerrard exchanged goals, Montolivo missed the target whilst Rooney scored to give England a 2-1 lead.
Up stepped man of the match Pirlo, who nonchalantly chipped the ball down the centre of the goal once Hart had already dived, which merely added to the air of supreme skill and class he had displayed all evening.
England still only needed to score their remaining penalties to reach the semi finals, but misses by Young (who hit the bar) and Cole (who never looked like scoring following a poor run up) sandwiched a successful penalty by Nocerino, meaning that Diaminti was left to score his spot kick and send England (the most expensive squad at the tournament, interestingly) home with their tails deservedly between their legs, and consign the two Ashleys to the queue for future pizza adverts (ask your dad, kids).
It will therefore be Italy who play Germany (my pre-tournament tip for glory) on Thursday for a place in the final next Sunday. On this showing, the Germans will not be massively concerned, not least as they’ve had two further days rest than their opponents, and are in fine form themselves. I’m sure they’ll give Pirlo far less time and space than a poor England side did tonight though, and will stand a far better chance of progressing than the Three Lions did tonight as a result.
