Euro 2012 - England vs Italy
Roy Hodgson names an unchanged lineup for tonights game. It will more than likely be one for the purists, rather than those looking for entertaining total football, with both coaches favouring the tactical side of the game.
Expectations have risen for this England side and hopefully the players will not feel the extra pressure in Ukraine. Roy Hodgson's boys qualified with ease in the end but they will now face a tougher task with the Italians.
There was a lot of focus on Ukraine's goal that never was, but all I will say about it is that Milevskiy was offside and in this case two wrongs did make a right.
Super Mario will start alongside Cassano, but hopefully his Manchester City teammates will be able to wind him up in a similar fashion to the Rooney/Ronaldo confrontation of 2004.
Rooney hopefully will be up to speed after the Ukraine match and will be even more dangerous. The Italian's will know that they cannot switch off for a second unless they want "Wazza" to punish them. Gerrard and Parker will need to keep a close eye on Andrea Pirlo who passing will pose a major threat, outside of the experienced playmaker the Italian side lack anyone else you would consider an natural passer, and this battle will be key.
England have a massive opportunity to make it to the semi finals where they have the chance to re-write Euro '96 history and defeat the Germans. Very few people thought England would do well in this tournament, but we can already be prouder of these "nobodies" than the "golden generation" who failed to produce in any number of tournaments.
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