After watching the Dutch getting the upper hand against Spain, I was full of optimism waiting for the England-Italy kick-off.
England wanted to inject pace to the game early doors, but Italy as the usually do, played at Pirlo-pace.
A dummy, a shimmy and a shot, and Italy was one nil up. England did not sit still and the old adage of teams being most vulnerable to concede when they had just scored applied here. Within a couple of minutes, Sturridge was at the end of Rooney's cross to bring the score level.
The scored stood tied until the break.
Then Italy got the upper hand. Ballotelli. Why always him?
England couldn't find a reply after this although I must say compared to the previous years, they played with more enthusiasm. They just lack the know-how at the final third. Their shoot-on-sight tactic did create a few problems for the Italian defence who were shaky at times, but they could do with a world-beating midfielder, somebody with a knack for the killer pass. Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Veron or even A Scholsey would do nicely.
Now to look forward to the next group game and come through from there ...
