Italy 2 England 1
Raheem Sterling is our youngest player, our most two-footed player, and our quickest player.
He’s fearless, fast and agile.
His passing and shooting and dribbling were exceptional on Saturday night.
But Italy beat us 2-1.
Roy Hodgson promised to attack and did that with four strikers.
So it was almost a 4-2-4 formation. The trick there was that Danny Welbeck was really a defender, a warrior who chased blue shirts all night.
Hodgson played Welbeck for his tenacity, Sturridge for his goals, Sterling for his confidence, and Rooney, presumably, for his experience.
That left Henderson as a right-central midfielder to help protect the positionally wayward Glen Johnson, and Steven Gerrard in an unaccustomed left-half role, where he was largely anonymous.
We almost scored an early goal when Sterling, making his first competitive start for England seniors, scooted forward and fired a fierce shot in three minutes.
The FIFA-tv caption man put up GOAL, not realising that Sterling’s shot had beaten the post by a whisker and flashed high into the side-net.
We had started bright and quick, like Liverpool do. Momentum and pace with bits of flair here and there. Jordan Henderson had a decent shot saved in 5.
While I was already asking, “Where is Ashley Cole?” I was also saying, “If it’s 0-0 after 60, I fancy us.”
Jan watched the pre-match build-up while I was busy in my office, then decided to watch the game from 11pm.
Italy’s corner in 34 minutes was a well-rehearsed short one that caught England snoozing as Pirlo dummied to give Marchisio a shot from 25 yards.
At that moment, we had eight players and Joe Hart behind the penalty spot, defending the goalmouth.
As Jagielka raced out to block, Marchisio’s shot went past him and through Glen Johnson and between Gary Cahill’s legs, so Joe Hart couldn’t see the ball soon enough.
But who was leading? Who shouted?
Big matches boil down to small moments of indecision and fine margins.
England 0 Italy 1
England immediately fought back strongly and quickly. When Gerrard’s pass was blocked, Sterling picked up the loose ball in left midfield and skipped over the halfway line and his slide-rule pass released Rooney on the left and that was when Rooney produced a single moment of class.
His left-footed cross was perfectly weighted, so the ball didn’t bounce high or skid away from his mate at the far post. When Daniel Sturridge was racing onto that ball at the far-post, Liverpool fans thought he would score.
Full disclosure: I thought he would miss.
But that stab with his right foot was a textbook finish: he judged the bounce perfectly to make it 1-1.
When Balotelli chipped Joe Hart from the left side, Phil Jagielka headed the ball over the bar.
Before the game, I thought James Milner should start. At half-time, I wanted Milner to come on to defend the left flank, where Leighton Baines was being exposed.
Half time came with the score at 1-1.
Midfielder Antonio Candreva of Lazio and right back Matteo Darmain of Torino had been annihilating Baines on the left flank and when Candreva came inside and hoisted a left-footed cross to the far post, Balotelli headed in from two yards.
Italy 2 England 1 after 50 minutes.
Rooney had his big chance in 62 when he was unmarked in the box. But he hit his shot just wide.
We went to bed on the final whistle and my final thought as my head hit the pillow was: Sterling would have buried the chance that Rooney wasted.
Against Italy, Raheem Sterling was as fresh and uninhibited as Rooney had been as an 18-year-old in Portugal in Euro 2004, when he was colossal and inspired and new.
Rooney was the best player of that tournament but he\’s never been as electrifying for England since.
As he became a branded superstar, his freshness and fluency vanished and his life became a soap opera.
I just hope Raheem Sterling is still playing for England when he’s 29
VERDICT: We did OK with 16 shots against Italy’s 12, we had 5 on target against their 4, and 9 corners against their 2.
We played quite well and were worth a draw.
But we failed in three of the game’s most important moments.
And Rooney still hasn’t scored in a World Cup. He still has that monkey on his back and that’s what made him miss that chance.
Rooney admits his place is not safe now
On Thursday we have to beat Uruguay, who lost 3-1 to Costa Rica.
Luis Suarez is training normally now after minor knee surgery a month ago.
Remarkably, and provocatively, Roy Hodgson says Suarez isn’t a world class player and needs to prove his quality in this tournament.
Whoah!!! Don’t wind him up, Roy.
You know very well that Luis Suarez is a super-inventive fireball goal-machine who would walk into the Brazil team, the German team or the Dutch.