England 1 Italy 2 - The Future Is Bright

I suppose it's normal, given England's recent int'l record, for a majority here to be critical, downbeat or pessimistic over and after last night's defeat. Yes, it's got harder after losing your opening match, I don't see a gloom and doom scenario.

In fact, as a neutral I was pleasantly surprised by England. For the first time since god knows when, England were actually refreshing to watch at a major tournament. You offered much more than recent sides whose main game plan seemed to be to keep a clean sheet and hope to make the most of a dead ball. 2012 was an absolute eyesore and had me praying for you to consign such unambitious football to the rubbish dump of football history.

There was a lot more intent and directness in your counter-attacking last night, a lot more willingness to take on an opponent one-on-one, a lot less shyness in front of goal...it generally felt that you were a lot more up for it than last time you met Italy. The full-time result might not have been better, but the performance was a massive improvement.

You gave Italy a very good game; the scales really could have tipped either way. I'm not necessarily saying you deserved better because Italy also played their own game well and closed out the match relatively coolly, but it was a game of fine margins that imo was ultimately decided when Italy had the opportunity to settle after their second goal. Deprived of space to counter in, you lacked the creativity to operate in tighter spaces, but that's something you'll be able to find when some of your younger players mature into their roles. That said, if you had taken the lead at any point - and you definitely had chances - Italy would've had to expose themselves much more trying to find a way back into it and could've found themselves in deep trouble. All in all, it was an enthralling game for the neutral.

Looking ahead, even if you failed to qualify for the k.o. rounds, what I saw last night bodes well for the future. You've got a really promising crop of young players, some still finding their feet at the top level and others coming through the pipeline. I also saw a lot of harsh criticism for 'the old guard', but although I understand the frustration, every young side needs a steadying influence. It's really up to Hodgson to choose the players who know the ropes and can help steer the ship through stormy waters, but that has as much or more to do with what goes on behind close doors as it has with anything we see on the pitch or hear in the media.



Finally, a word on Italy. Some people had made a lot of Italy's form coming into this tournament, but way back in 1982 - thanks, precisely, to the Italians - I learnt not to read too much into pre-tournament form. The most savvy teams use that period to carry out tests and fine tune their machinery. These are still the current European runners-up who gave much-feared Germany a proper schooling in their last meeting. They have some marvellous ball-players, with quality in every line and are led by one of the most sublime midfielders I've seen in my 45 years.

Losing to Italy by a slim margin is no disgrace at all. The World Cup can throw up all sorts of surprises, but I wouldn't be in the least surprised to see them go far here.