England qualifying for Euro 2024 started with a historic victory in Italydespite a spirited fight back in the second half from the Naples hosts.
Harry Kane‘s record 54th international goal from the penalty spot and Declan Rice‘s close-range finish gave England their first win in Italy since 1961 after a first 45 minutes, suggesting Southgate’s side are still improving after an encouraging but ultimately disappointing winter World Cup campaign.
But the visitors had all too familiar problems after the break, including a lack of control in midfield and some twitchy defending, as Italy upped their game.
Kane’s penalty was comfortably the standout moment, surpassing Wayne Rooney as England’s all-time top goalscorer and cementing the 29-year-old’s place in history. There was something fitting about the Tottenham Hotspur striker breaking the record from the spot after his costly miss in the quarter-final in Qatar and given the circumstances it was cool the way you want England captain Gianluigi to send Donnarumma the wrong way.
The moment crowned a striking first half by England, which had made the European champions look ordinary at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Clearly this isn’t a vintage Italian squad – they didn’t even qualify for Qatar, after all – but Roberto Mancini started with the same three midfielders who started the Euro 2020 final as England’s historic possession problem came to light once again.
But England underlined their progress by dominating the center of the park for 45 minutes, with Rice – who opened the scoring after Kane’s shot from a corner was blocked – impressing Kalvin Phillips and especially Jude Bellingham.
Jorginho, Marco Varetti and Nicolo Barella were overrun and struggled to build up any meaningful possession.
It looked like England were on course to put down the marker requested by Southgate for the game, but Italy were another side after the break and the visitors finished the game down to 10 men following the dismissal of Luke Shaw.
England were particularly nervous in the moments before Argentina-born full debutant Mateo Retegui galloped into space and pulled a goal back with a sharp finish to cap off a fine move in the 10th minute of the second half.
With the crowd behind them, Italy began to control the midfield, with a growing influence from Veratti and Mancini’s large number of substitutes, particularly Leeds’ Wilfried Gnonto, putting England in more and more trouble.
A messy second half for the Southgate side was made worse when Shaw was sent off for a second yellow card for a foul, having previously been booked for wasting time. England showed impressive maturity to finish the game down to ten men, with Kane being particularly impressive in holding the ball.
They came away with a historic win, their best against a major country far from home since victory over Spain in October 2018.
Indeed, in terms of away qualifiers, this was England’s first victory over a major nation since victory in Croatia in 2008, and over a previous tournament winner since Germany’s infamous 5-1 thrashing in 2001.
The Southgate side have started a new cycle by breaking another barrier, although some familiar questions remain after Italy’s fight back.