England in a spin as VAR foils Vardy
SA substantial period of time had passed since Federico Chiesa had tumbled under pressure from James Tarkowski, Ashley Young and Adam Lallana.
it looked as if the crisis had passed for England. Then the official signalled for the dreaded VAR.
he had a look. he pointed to the spot. England had reached ten hours without conceding a goal, but Lorenzo insigne ensured they would not make it to 11 with just three minutes left.
Was it a penalty? Chiesa looked to have made the most of it. Equally, to have three players crowding around one in the area was clumsy. England will need to be better than that in Russia; so, too, will VAR.
‘i’m glad it’s not the World Cup yet,’ said boss Gareth southgate. ‘i think the ruling is “clear and obvious” and it’s not. it’s one you can debate all day.
‘it looks like Tarkowski stands on him, but it’s during the running process and he’s going down anyway. i think the ref had a good view already. i don’t think with incidents like that VAR will clear things up. An obvious handball and stuff like that, then maybe, but we have to get on with it.’
That aside, it was another decent night for southgate’s team. it was a good night, too, for Jamie Vardy (below), whose stunning first-half goal was set up by quick thinking from Jesse Lingard. Vardy picks his victims well. spain, Germany, holland and now italy for England, and every team in the Premier League’s top six for Leicester this term.
The outcomes of friendlies are often dismissed as unimportant, but confidence isn’t. England have now, in the space of five days, defeated holland away and played well for long periods against italy at home. While neither nation will be in Russia, there is still satisfaction in that for southgate. he is encouraging England’s back three to play, the forwards are quick and lively and, in Kieran Trippier at right wing-back with Kyle Walker at right centre-half, he has found an imaginative option. The same can be said of Young, deployed at left then right-back, and of the smartness of Lingard and Raheem sterling’s performances. There were a couple of negatives. The early mistakes by John stones, the yellow cards issued to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Young. Tempers will need to be kept in check — and more care shown in the penalty area, too. Game intelligence. how often has its absence hurt England at major finals? All the more reason to acknowledge the goal that gave them the lead last night. it was smart. Lingard was thinking more brightly than anyone else in his orbit when putting Vardy away for the opener.
While sterling was using the stoppage after a foul to implore Aytekin to take a firmer line with italy’s defence, Lingard put the ball down and took football’s equivalent of a scrum-half’s tap-and-go.
he passed the ball swiftly into Vardy, who made no mistake with his second chance of the night.
Once again, there was much to like about England going forward. The speed, movement, yes, the intelligence.
At times, they stretched italy on the flanks. At other times, Trippier tested them with a succession of well-struck corners. This is not to say England’s display was flawless. Far from it. They could have been three goals down before Vardy’s strike.
From italy’s first attack, Jorge Luiz Jorginho floated a neat pass which was read by Ciro immobile, but not stones, who allowed the striker to run off him into space.
stones then allowed immobile to catch him in possession on the edge of his own penalty area, the ball seemingly lost beneath his feet.
And in the 17th minute, came a wonderful chance. Antonio Candreva hit an outstanding cross from the right, met by immobile again in the middle. he duly sent his header flying over.
he had another run and shot that went wide and Marco Parolo hit a fierce shot from 25 yards that came close, but the initial wastefulness might explain why italy will not be at the World Cup this summer.