England V Italy World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Fancy a bet?

Pregame bets:

Draw and both teams to score is 7/2
Balotelli to score 12/5
Draw is 2/1

If only Rooney could score in the world cup. England played well enough to get the draw. At least Balotelli did the business and had a few chances in the game. Good stuff.

Full betting review here>

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-world-cup/

Beers: Group D of Beer:http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-group-d/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? London Pride V Birra Moretti? Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit?

Click on picture for a preview of the beers.

Get the beer result after, much after!

London Pride V Birra Moretti: London Pride wins 1-0. The complexity of London Pride and the variety of flavours makes drinking it a thrill especially when served cold. Moretti was good but on the day London Pride hit the spot (Unlike Rooney I might add!). Read here for full beer report.

PreGame:

England: Every time England get into the World Cup expectations rise, but this year one can feel that with the hard group England got, may English fans are not exactly brimming with much confidence. Many feel England will be lucky even to get out of the group never mind getting to another quarter finals.

In many ways playing Italy first is not as bad as first appears. Both teams in their first game could well play a cagey and dour game, which might result in a draw for the English team.

You can never really tell with the England team. When you expect them to do well they disappoint but when they are up against it they can pull out a result. Will the real England please step up!

England’s strengths lie in its midfield, its the teams engine. Lampard and Gerrard, in their last world cup, and the new guys Wilshere and Henderson all point to a midfield that will be tough to crack. But that means someone has to score the goals. Can Rooney finally stick his finger out and do something in a major championships? Perhaps he can, but I think Daniel Sturridge could be England’s key player. He has had a cracking season and must be raring to go in his first world cup.

Lets hope Roy Hodgson, a manger I rate and a top class bloke, takes the brakes off the team and just lets them play football.

Italy have a decent team, and are very well coached under the excellent Cesare Prandelli.

Off to a cagey start against England, I think they should top group D, especially since they have the Costa Rica game second, which should determine exactly what they should have to do in the last game against Uruguay.

The squad is strong from front to back, a little like Spain in that regards. No real weaknesses and the fact that it will be a final swansong for Pirlo and Buffon, at 35 and 36 respectively, means that they will certainly try to stay in the competition for as long as possible.

The key player will be Mario Balotelli who lit up the last European championships with his goals and style. I fully expect him to do the same in this world cup.

Remember Italy have never lost when super Mario scores!

A more detailed review on England here and on Italy here

Have to say England played well in this game, better than I expected anyway. Maybe a dip in the second half but enough to give them confidence in their next two games.

The youngsters that Hodgson picked played well, but I do have to ask about some of the more senior players. Gerrard was missing in action a good few times, and Rooney should have really done better with his chance in the second half.

Italy were good, maybe a little suspect at the back, but for the first game they looked a decent team. Pirlo was a magician, pinning balls all around the park, and unlucky not to score from a brilliant free kick, hitting the crossbar. Great stuff to watch and its such a pity this will be his last world cup. A draw or win against Costa Rica in the next game and they are through with minimum fuss.