England beat Italy (1-2) and Portugal defeated Liechtenstein (4-0) at the start of qualifying for Euro 2024.
The English achieved a prestigious triumph against the current champion, who offered two different faces in each part.
In the first he remembered more the team that was left out of the last two World Cups than the one that lifted the European title in 2021. For his part, Roberto Martínez had a comfortable debut in charge of Portugal, the same day that Cristiano Ronaldo became the footballer with the most caps in history (197).
Eurocup Classification
- Group C - Day 1
Italy
Mateo Retegui 56'
1 2
Finalized
England
Declan Rice 12'Kane 44'
The Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples reissued the final of the last Euro Cup between the two roosters from group C, a priori the group of death, which also includes Ukraine.
Gareth Southgate's team, which continues to bet on the same block of players in recent years, shot in effectiveness.
A corner kick forced by Bellingham after a great start led to the first goal of the game, the work of Declan Rice.
The West Ham midfielder took advantage of Kane's deflection to open the scoring.
From there, the
three lions
tamed Italy and carried all the danger through the transitions.
On the brink of half-time, a handball from Di Lorenzo ruled by VAR from a corner allowed Harry Kane to make it 0-2.
The English captain surpassed Rooney as the top scorer in the history of his team (54).
But after the break the panorama changed and Italy reacted with more direct football.
The rookie Retegui, a Tigre player in the Argentine league, cut the gap with a pass from Pellegrini.
Mancini's changes stirred up the attack and England were left with ten for a double yellow to Shaw.
However, the harassment and demolition of the last ten minutes was not enough and the Azzurri lost in a qualifying phase of the Eurocopa for the first time since 2006.
Eurocup Classification
- Group j - day 1
Portugal
I cancel 7'Bernardo Silva 46'Cristiano 51'Cristiano 62'
4 0
Finalized
liechtenstein
In group J, Portugal starts as the top favorite and Liechtenstein only held out for seven minutes.
Cancelo found the goal with a shot from the edge that bounced off a defender.
Roberto Martínez's team dominated from start to finish, although they lacked depth in the first half against the rival bolt.
Already in the second half, they managed to distance themselves on the scoreboard with two early goals.
First with a left-footed shot from Bernardo Silva and then with a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo, provoked by an always incisive Cancelo.
Cristiano celebrated the night in which he went down in history with a double, signing the final 4-0 from a direct free kick.
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