England & Italy settle for goalless draw

By Our Special Correspondent

In their first meeting since the Euro 2020 final, England and Italy failed to break each other down in front of 2,000 school kids at a “closed” Molineaux stadium. Especially in the beginning both teams had great chances, but could not change them. Mason Mount touched the crossbar in the first five minutes and Raheem Sterling created a horror miss in the second half. For Italy, David Frattesi had to score early and Sandro Tonalini was superbly stopped by Aaron Ram‌sdale.

The home game had to be played behind closed doors as punishment for the violence and disorder of the spectators who appeared in the Euro 2020 final in Wembley, England. But the English FA used the UEFA rule, which allowed school children to attend such games, meaning 2,000 young people spent their lives in empty stadiums.

Then, Giovanni de Lorenzo's inviting cross did not find the blue shirts in the England box, and the match settled down a bit. Declan Rice fired just wide from James Ward-Pros Corner, after which Italy held sway for a while.

Mancini's men counted at the mark of about 25 minutes. Tonali faced De Lorenzo's beautiful first low cross from the right at close range, but Ramsdale blocked the Milan midfielder’s drive with his feet.

England subsequently created a few more openings, but the next big opportunity came again for Italy. Matteo Pessina passes to Gianluca Skamaka, just to the right of the six-yard box. Skamakka put the belt on the bar from all around. Ramsdale deflected a shot from Pessina that deflected to Ward-Pros before the referee blew it into half-time.

The second half started just before the end of the first half, this time with a shot from the edge of the Pessina D. After that came the clear opportunity for England to find the winner. Jack Grealish finds Reese James on the right, twisting a sweet cross into the visitors' six-yard box after coming full-back. The unmarked sterling had to be pressed into the empty net, but somehow fired on the bar.

After a power dribble on the right in the 70th minute, Italian substitute Wilfried Gnonto fired into the side-netting. Then Kane, also from the bench, hit the shot from a tight angle.

With 10 minutes left, Ficayo Tomori, in his first England start, provided an excellent tackle to prevent Gnonto from clearly running over the goal. There were no real chances before the fulltime whistle.

As a result of the Nations League encounter Italy topped Group A3, but unbeaten England was at the bottom. The Three Lions will face second-placed Hungary on Tuesday at the same venue. With the bottom team down to League B after the group stage, England desperately wants to win. The Italians, who did not take part in the Qatar World Cup, will face Germany on the same day.