2014 FIFA World Cup: England vs Italy - As it happened...

====================================================================================

Zee Media Bureau/Dattaraj Thaly OUR FULL COVERAGE ON WORLD CUP 2014» England`s Team Profile» Italy`s Team Profile» ==================================================================================== FULL TIME: England 1 - 2 Italy 90+2'- Cahill fouls Motta in a dangerous position. Pirlo to takes the resulting free-kick. He strikes the ball with impeccable technique and has Hart go the other way. The ball strikes the crossbar. 90'- Five minutes of added time have been signaled by the ref's assistant. 89'- Sterling goes on another one of his runs and takes a left footer, which goes wide off the post. 87'- Just three minutes plus added time left for England to salvage a draw here. Rooney takes the ball off Barkley, and fires a left-footer over the Italy crossbar. 85'- After some discussion, Rooney leaves the scene for Gerrard to take the free-kick. He curls the ball over Italy's crossbar. Disappointing effort. 84'- Lallana receives Baines' ball on the turn. He is fouled by D Rossi just outside the box. This is a great chance for England to take advantage. 83'- Italy doing what they do best. They have managed to absorb all the England pressure while not allowing the "Three Lions" to have any clear cut openings. 80'- Another set of substitutions from both teams. Daniel Sturridge is taken off in favor of Southampton skipper Adam Lallana while Italy withdraw Antonio Candreva for Marco Parolo 77' - Rooney takes the corner. What a waste of a corner that is. He doesn't even manage to put the ball in play. Sums up his match. 76'- Baines takes the freekick and forces a good save from Sirigu. The ball goes out for a corner. 75'- Chiellini makes a rash challenge on Sturridge. This is a promising position for England to score from a free-kick. 73'- Substitutions by both teams. England have taken off Jordan Henderson and replaced him with Arsenal's Jack Wilshere. Italy take off the goal-scorer Mario Balotelli for Ciro Immobile. 71'- Glenn Johnson finds himself with space and time. He lets one fly from 25 yards. The Italy keeper lost the ball between the crowd of players and remained rooted to his spot. The shot is just wide though. 68'- Candreva tries to surprise Hart with a long driven. The England keeper was alert and makes the save. 67'- Sterling glides past Marchisio and Chiellini, he gets to the by-line and puts a cross in, which is easily collected by Sirigu. 65'- Young Raheem Sterling, who has been sensational does down with cramps. He is feeling the heat here in Manaus. 62'- ROONEY MISSES! Baines put in a lovely ball for Rooney who found himself in a lot of space inside the box. United striker's shot is just inches off the post. Best chance of the match for England. 60'- Sturridge tries to curl one up into Italy's top corner. He had more options there. Poor choice to shoot as the ball is well wide. 59'- Sterling glides past Candreva to put in a early cross for Sturridge, whose first touch is just not good enough. 57'- First substitution of the match. Marco Verratti has been taken off and replaced by the Brazil born Thiago Motta. 55'- Glen Johnson bombs down the right flank and puts in a dangerous cross. Both Welbeck and Sturridge fail to meet the ball. 54'- Rooney shakes off De Rossi and takes a shot from distance. Despite the dive from Sirigu, the ball ends up wide. 52'- Darmian play a ball along the lines for Balotelli, but the goalscorer can't make much of that. Super Mario loses Cahil and heads Italy into the lead off a cross from Candreva from the right flank of Italy. Great header from Mario. 50'- GOAL! Balotelli 49'- Like the beginning of the first half, Sturridge lets one fly from long range. Sirigu saved and the defender clears it for a corner. Baines takes the corner but is off the mark. 48'- De Rossi picks up the ball in the middle and picks out Balotelli with a lovey chip. But the AC MIlan striker is ruled off-side. 46'- England to get us started in the second 45. Here we go... News just in that the England physio has dislocated and fractured his ankle as he celebrated that equalizer from Sturridge. Good luck to him! Pirlo made more passes in that first half than Gerrard, Henderson and Sterling put together. Hardly a surprise that. What a half we have witnessed here in Manaus. Both teams not sitting back and mounting pressure on one another. Marchisio's opener was equalized by Sturridge. Nothing to select between the two teams after that half. As expected Pirlo is doing the job for Italy but the Sterling has been the surprise package for England. HALF TIME: England 1 - 1 Italy 45+2'- Candreva off the post! The Italian picks the ball and shots from outside the box. The ball ricochets off England's post. Italians finish the half on a positive note. 45+1'- SAVED OFF THE LINE. Hart came off his line for a ball but Balotelli got their first. He composed himself and curled a ball into the empty net. Jagielka managed to clear the ball with a header off the line. 45'- Two minutes of added on time have been signaled. 43'- Italy are now putting a lot of long balls inside England's box. Hart has collected all of them. Meanwhile, in a freak incident. The England physio has managed to get himself injured. Yes, Gary Lewin has been stretchered off. Crazy! 40'- This is turning out to be a cracking game once again. Both teams are mounting attack after attack and are not being bogged down by the humidity. Sterling threads a wonderful through ball to Rooney who had just one person to aim in the middle. Rooney's left foot cross set up the goal on a plate for Sturridge who smashed the ball in. 37'- GOAL! Sturridge Italy score from a wonderfully worked corner. It was a short corner. Pass was played into Pirlo who left it for Marchisio who sealed the goal with a low drive from outside the box. 35'- GOAL! Marchisio 31'- Verratti and Pirlo and dominating the midfield for Italy. But they have not made any incisive passes. 28'- Candreva cuts in from the right yet but his shot is off target. Rooney clearly isn't keeping up with him. 25'- England almost draw first blood. Wonderful play from Welbeck saw him get past his marker with sheer pace. He crosses the ball for Sturridge but a deflection from one of Italian defender takes the ball away from him. 25'- England are looking dangerous with their wing play. Italy though are controlling the midfield. 24'- Mario Balotelli picks up the ball and lets one fly. The ball sails into the crowd. 22'- Sterling does well down on England's left. Skips past his man and delivers a low cross. Welbeck is blocked by two Italian defenders. He appeals for a penalty. Not getting one for that. 20'- Italy will understand this is a very different England side from the one they faced at the Euro. 18'- England playing it around until Italy snatch the ball back and put a few passes together. Pirlo and Rossi play the ball around. Candreva receives the pass and tries his luck from distance. Hart spills the collection but no damage done. 15'- Looks like England players have been instructed to have a go from long distance if they have bit of space. Sterling, Welbeck, Henderson and Johnson have all tried their luck so far. 12'- Chiellini and Darmian are bombing down their respective flanks. Both have managed to get behind the England defense on more than one occasion. 10'- It is all Sterling and Sturridge for England so far. Rooney has not been involved in any England move. Almost cuts out as an isolated figure. 8'- Now its Italy's turn to attack. Pirlo tries to wriggle through England's defense. He tries to go past Johnson and the ball makes contact with the Liverpool man's had. Pirlo appeals for handball but the ref says play on. England lucky. 6'- England on the attack again. This time Henderson fires a shot from long range. Great effort but Sirigu makes a smart save. 4'- Sterling lets one fly from distance. Even the commentator thought that was in. The ball smashes into the side netting. 2'- As expected, Pirlo seeing a lot of the early ball. England are closing him down as early as possible. 1'- Italy get the match started. Here we go... Roy Hodgson has made his intentions clear with that attack minded line-up. Rooney, Sturridge, Sterling and Welbeck is a tantalizing prospect for the "Three Lions" up front. The players are making their way out to the ground now. England in their traditional all white and the Italians in blue. This is it folks. Biggest news so far is that both Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling start for England. We have the team line-ups for the big match: England: Hart (GK), Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, Gerrard (c), Henderson, Rooney, Sterling, Welbeck, Sturridge. Italy: Sirigu, Chiellini, Darmian, Candreva, Marchisio, Balotelli, Barzagli, De Rossi, Paletta, Pirlo (c), Verratti The Arena Amazonia in Manuas is all set for an epic clash between England and Italy in a Group D clash. Italy are favorites to win this match but England, underachievers they may be are certainly no pushovers. This is one of the biggest matches of the Group stage as defeat for either team could have major ramifications. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ruled out of this match due to a knee injury. Welbeck is expected to start over Sterling in this England line-up. Italy have their own issues with injury as Buffon and Mattia De Sciglio have been ruled out. The two teams have played each other 24 times with England winning 8, Italy winning 9 while 7 matches ended in a stalemate. If England need to win, they not only have Wayne Rooney and co firing on all cylinders but will also have to stop Italy`s metronome - Andrea Pirlo.