Italy's national soccer player Balotelli and his coach Prandelli look on during a training session ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Mangaratiba
Italy's national soccer player Mario Balotelli (L) and his coach Cesare Prandelli look on during a training session ahead of the 2014 World Cup at the Portobello training center in Mangaratiba June 11, 2014. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

Final Score

England 1 Italy 2

Overview

The eighth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between England and Italy. Already considered to the "group of death," Group D has these two giants who are former world champions. This is one of the most awaited matches in the group stage.

Teams

England: England it qualified for the World Cup 2014 without suffering a single defeat. While it maintained the no-loss record in the pre-world cup friendlies as well, it failed to secure victory against Ecuador (2-2) and a relatively much weaker team like Honduras (0-0). It is uncertain if striker Danny Welbeck will play this match as he suffered a thigh injury just before the crunch match. Wayne Rooney will score in this match.

Italy: Italy finished only second at the previous occasion of the UEFA European Championship. However, it failed to win against Republic of Ireland (0-0) and Luxembourg (1-1) in the pre-world cup friendlies. Although this version of Italy is far from the best it can offer, it has some players who can be lethal for the opposition. Mario Balotelli will be a key factor, so will Andrea Pirlo.

Head to Head

These two arch-rivals played against each other 24 times before. England won 8, Italy 9 and 7 matches ended in a draw. There were 57 goals scored. England scores 30 of them and Italy 27. The record shows the high scoring capabilities of these two teams against each other.

Key Players

England: Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere & Daniel Sturridge

Italy: Mario Balotelli, Giuseppe Rossi & Andrea Pirlo

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 6 pm (local time) on June 14, which means it is 8 am on June 15 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Amazonia in Manaus.

Prediction

This game may well be one of the most violent matches in the tournament. With both teams having several players famous for their volatile temperament, expect a lot of booking. While it is extremely difficult to separate the two, it is Mario Balotelli who will make all the difference. Predicting a 3-2 result for the crucial match, I put Italy inches forward in the game.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au

RELATED STORIES