London (AFP)
England took revenge on Italy in their first confrontation at Wembley Stadium, since the final match of the “2020 edition”, to reach the European Cup finals scheduled for next summer in Germany, by beating its guest 3-1 thanks to Harry Kane’s “double”, after it was falling behind. Against them, in the eighth round of Group C competitions, those goals raised Kane’s tally at Wembley Stadium to 24 goals, one more than Bobby Charlton, who won the 1966 World Cup.
It is true that the two teams have faced each other three times since the last European Cup final in the summer of 2021, when the English lost on penalties and were deprived of their first major title since the 1966 World Cup, but this is the first time that Italy has been a guest at Wembley since that match in which It ended in a 1-1 draw in regular and extra time.
Coach Gareth Southgate’s men renewed their victory over the Azzurri, who lost the first leg at home 1-2 in March under the leadership of their former coach Roberto Mancini, raising their score to 16 points at the top of the group, after they only needed a draw to guarantee their ticket to the finals.
England joined the finals with Austria and Belgium (Group Six), Spain and Scotland (first), Turkey (fourth), France (second), Portugal (tenth), in addition to Germany, the host and automatic qualifier.
After suffering its first defeat in its fourth match led by Luciano Spalletti, Italy gave up “runner-up” in favor of Ukraine, which now stands ahead of “the Azzurri” by three points, but with a game more than the last, by defeating its host Malta with two goals by Ryan Camenzoli (38 own errors). , and Artem Dovbek (43 from a penalty kick), versus a goal by Paul Mbong (12).
The opportunity to qualify directly, and to compensate for the disappointment of missing the 2022 World Cup, remains in the hands of Italy, as it plays in the penultimate round scheduled for the 17th of next month at home against North Macedonia, which played a role in its absence from the World Cup for the second time in a row, before finishing in the round. The final match against Ukraine in Leverkusen on the 20th.
The English started the match strongly and besieged the Spalletti players in their area, but without a real threat to Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal, so the response came harshly through Gianluca Scamaca, who opened the scoring for the Italians, after a cross from Giovanni Di Lorenzo and a failed attempt by his teammate Davide Fratesi to convert it into the net. It reached the former English West Ham striker, who fired it powerfully into the goal “15”, scoring his first international goal.
Despite their lag, the English seemed unable to threaten the Italian goal, until Jude Bellingham succeeded in snatching a penalty kick from Di Lorenzo, to which Kane declared a success “32”.
Following a counterattack led by Bellingham, Rashford succeeded in putting the English in the lead with a beautiful shot from the outskirts of the 57th area.
Kane dealt the fatal blow to Italy with his second personal goal in the match and the sixty-first in his country’s colors, following an error in intercepting the ball from “substitute” Alessandro Bastoni, who penetrated it from afar before shooting against Donnarumma (77).
In Group Eight, Slovenia held on to the lead by one goal against Denmark after they beat Northern Ireland 1-0 and San Marino 2-1, respectively.
The two teams entered this round with the same distance, with 16 points each, with a goal advantage for Slovenia in the lead. “The two direct confrontations are not counted because they met only once, when they tied 1-1 on June 19.”
Slovenia was able to stay ahead of its rival after returning from Belfast by winning with a goal by Adam Gnezda Sherin, in a match that the host completed with ten players after Shay Charles was sent off.
In San Marino, many believed that Denmark would return with a big victory, but it struggled to overcome its host with two goals by Rasmus Hoylund and substitute Yusuf Poulsen, versus a goal by Alessandro Golinucci.
The Slovenian and Danish teams, which will face each other in the next round scheduled for November 17 in Copenhagen, raised their scores to 19 points, with Kazakhstan behind them by four points, after turning the tables on its host Finland, and maintaining the dream of direct qualification to the finals for the first time in its history by beating them 2-1. .
In Group Seven, leaders Hungary returned with a valuable draw from Lithuania 2-2, after overcoming a two-goal deficit, enhancing their chances of reaching the finals. Hungary maintained its unbeaten record in first place with 14 points from 6 matches, one point ahead of Serbia, which played its seventh match. It won it over its host and neighbor Montenegro 3-1, leaving the latter’s balance in third place at 8 points from 6 matches.
2023-10-18 04:35:19
#Kane #embraces #history #Wembley #Revenge
