England’s Under-17s suffered a blow to their hopes of reaching the UEFA Under-17 Championship semi-finals with a 4-2 defeat to reigning champions Italy.
England, twice equalized against the Italians through an Alejandro Rodriguez double, but it proved too little with decisive goals from Thomas Campaniello and Andrea Luongo, adding to Samuele Inacio and Cristiano De Paoli’s first half goals.
The result leaves England winless after two games whilst Italy have maintained a 100% record, topping the table with six points. Belgium split the two sides in the table, they picked up three points vs Czech Republic to add to their draw with Neil Ryan’s team.
England face the Czech Republic on Monday knowing only a win and a favour from Italy will be enough if they’re to reach the next stage.
Story of the match
The game was played with a level of aggression and intensity from the get go with 19 fouls in the first half. 15-year-old Max Dowman was the subject of some over-eager Italian attention, with three fouls on the Arsenal youngster in as many minutes.
Jun’Ai Byfield shifted to right back for the encounter to make room for Malachi Hardy at the heart of the England defence, and it was Byfield who presented the holders with a chance to break the deadlock from the penalty spot after just six minutes.
The Tottenham defender found himself in a foot race with against Inacio and the Italian’s quick burst of pace invited the challenge of Byfield, but the intervention was mistimed leading to a penalty. Inacio took responsibility from 12 yards and narrowly squeezed it past goalkeeper Jack Porter.
England grew into the clash as the clock continued to tick. They were able to get Dowman more involved down the right hand side and he called Sebastiano Nava into action for the first time with a right footed drive following some neat footwork.
It was a sign of things to come for England who shortly leveled the game. Dean Benemar found himself with room to maneuver down the left flank and adeptly picked out Alejandro Rodriguez- who scored vs Belgium.
He made no mistake again on this occasion, pulling away from his marker and tucking the ball home.
The game continued to impress with each keeper producing an array of stops, but it was Italy who once again got their noses in front with Cristiano De Paoli converting from close proximity.
A penalty box scramble from an Italian corner kick ended with the defender smashing the ball beyond Porter, and the holders led at the interval.
England came out of the blocks quickly in the second period knowing they needed a result and Rodriguez produced an almost instant reaction with his second of the match in the 49th minute.
The Lyon striker pounced onto a long ball before cutting both inside and out to evade his man, then calmly dispatchedit into the far corner.
Despite the equaliser, England never felt like they would truly kick on in the match, with the Italians the ones forcing the issue as we reached the hour mark. Substitute Destiny Elimoghale thought he’d restored Italy’s slender lead, but the linesman’s flag denied the 16-year-old.
However it wouldn’t take long for Italy to regain control with their aerial ability a constant thorn in England's side.
Captain Luongo placed a cross onto the head of Thomas Campaniello who finally broke the second half resolve of Porter in the 67th minute. Luongo then added insult to injury with a curled free kick which missed everyone inside the area and nestled into the far post just 10 minutes later.
Despite a string of changes, England never truly threatened the Italian’s who saw out the game comfortably.
Italy’s intensity proves too much
Despite some neat footwork and a few moments of real quality from Ryan’s side, it was obvious in the early stages that Italy were playing at a stronger intensity than their opponents.
They pushed up high as Porter tried to build out, pinching the ball deep into England territory after just 23 seconds and that kind of intent was what proved decisive.
The referee did penalise the reigning champions on multiple occasions for their aggression in the challenge but nevertheless they made it uncomfortable for England to play through the lines and forced them into longer diagonal balls often.
England midfielder Dowman sparkled in the opening match against the Italians but was given little room to breathe on the ball with two or three blue shirts in close attendance almost every time he picked up possession inside the England half. He did show moments of his quality, but didn’t truly impact the game as he or his manager would have wanted.
As England grew weary as time passed, the Italians maintained their strong athletic levels and ultimately cruised to victory, as England struggled to replicate the basketball-type flow of the game we saw for much of the first hour. Even a cluster of changes did little to truly threaten the two-goal lead the Italians had taken in the closing stages.
Player of the match: Andrea Luongo
The Italian captain pipped teammate Inacio to the award with his late contributions but over the course of the 90 minutes showed real quality. He was energetic up and down the left of Italy’s diamond midfield shape and proved a headache for the out of position Byfield.
His physical capabilities were as impressive as his demonstrations of technical prowess and helped him maintain his strong performance levels in the dying embers of the game before he was replaced.
