14 June 2014, Arena Amazônia, Manaus. Italy 2–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Saturday night in the jungle, thirty degrees, humidity sitting on the new stadium like a second opponent, the first World Cup match the Amazon had been allowed to stage, and a side the English week had dressed as lions. The Sun had Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge hunting Italian prey in the trees. Believe, the fronts said. Beer we go. Reach for the stars. What could possibly go wrong? The Guardian, quieter, gave Gerrard let's have no regrets. FIFA had 30°C and 61 per cent for the kick-off. The Arena Amazônia was the most exotic of the twelve grounds, the papers wrote, as if exotic were a formation. Roy Hodgson had Raheem Sterling in the side that was supposed to attack, Rooney wide, Sturridge through the middle, the young one the week had decided would make this a different England. Cesare Prandelli had Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Mario Balotelli with the mohawk, and a defence that knew how to hold a lead in heat. The English end had come for the rumble in the jungle the back pages had already printed.
Manaus in June is a bowl that does not care what you printed on the front. England had come as the side that had Believe and lions in the trees. Italy had come as Prandelli's side, with Pirlo in the middle of the heat and Balotelli waiting at the far stick. The English end treated exotic as a plan. The humidity treated exotic as a second opponent. Group D still had Uruguay and Costa Rica left. A win here still looked like a start. A header at the back post here, and São Paulo would already be uphill.
They kicked off anyway.
It was, for a long stretch, the England the week had promised. Sterling ran at them. Italy sat and waited in the way Italy waits. Then, on thirty-five minutes, Pirlo dummyed from a corner without touching it, Marchisio hit one from twenty-five yards through a crowd and past Joe Hart, a shot the keeper was later called blameless for. Two minutes later Sterling cut them open, Rooney, from the left, put a ball across that Sturridge tapped in, and Gary Lewin, the physio, went over on an ankle in the celebration and left on a stretcher, which is a World Cup detail you could not invent and do not need to. One-one. Phil Jagielka headed one off the line from Balotelli. Candreva hit a post. They would hit the bar after the break. The heat did the rest. Players from both sides slowed. The jungle, the reports said, made its mark.
The turn is the fiftieth minute, and it is not a wonder goal, it is a left side left in a mess. Antonio Candreva beat Leighton Baines, the ball went to the back post, and Balotelli headed it in front of Gary Cahill. Two-one. Hart, again. Hodgson sent Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere, Adam Lallana on, the talent arriving after the header, which is how a World Cup opener dies when the week has already used the word believe. England had more of the ball and not the score. Italy had the defenders. Martin Samuel, in the Mail, wrote that this time there would be few recriminations, no grand inquest, little soul-searching: they played well, but lost; went for it, but lost; had many of the best chances, but lost. That happens, he said, and we will live with it. Frankly, we will have to. Five days later Uruguay would make the living harder. That night is already filed. This is the Saturday they went for it and still started the slide.
The Sunday papers had been waiting all night for a pun. The Sun's front: The Italian sob. Roy's brave Lions go down fighting. Inside: Sturred and then shaken, Christ the Raheemer, Kick in Balos, Sterling stuff but Hodgson boys are outwitted. The Mail on Sunday had The Italian sob on the sport and Kiss of death on the back, Balotelli celebrating. The Sunday Express: Super Mario sinks Roy's boys. The Daily Star Sunday: Jungle Tumble, a headline that sounds clever and means the thing it says. La Repubblica, which did not need a pun, said England was not quite up to the Azzurri. The week before had been Believe. The morning was a sob.
Balotelli had the header and the mohawk and every back page. Marchisio had the twenty-five yards. Candreva had the beat on Baines. Pirlo had the night from the middle of the heat. Sturridge had the tap and the two minutes of one-one. Sterling had the run the week had promised. Rooney had the cross from the left, the wide role the country would argue about until Thursday. Hart had two. Baines had the mess. Cahill had the man he did not stop. Hodgson had the attack, the substitutions, and a group that was already uphill. Gerrard had the flag on the eve and the jungle he had been printed in. The Sun had the lions, then the sob.
They said believe. They said beer we go. They said what could possibly go wrong. They said no regrets. They went for it. They lost. The jungle did not need to be a metaphor. It was thirty degrees and a header at the back post. Then São Paulo, and Luis, and the abyss the Times already had the words for.
The film is up. FIFA kept Marchisio from distance, Sturridge's tap, Balotelli at the far stick. Do not review it. Watch the sob after believe.
https://www.fifa.com/en/watch/1L3dttwYd4pyXJoBihQiQi
Related reading
- Keep Luis quiet — São Paulo 2014, Uruguay, the night that made the Manaus slide an abyss
- We are the lions — Kyiv 2012, Italy again, Pirlo’s chip and a stolen nickname
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Italy beat England in Manaus at World Cup 2014?
Italy 2–1 England, on 14 June 2014 at Arena Amazônia, Manaus. Marchisio and Balotelli scored; Sturridge equalised briefly.
Why “Jungle tumble”?
The Daily Star Sunday’s morning pun — Jungle Tumble — after England went for it in the Amazon heat and still lost the opener.
Did England still go through?
No. Five days later Uruguay made the living harder; England went out at the group stage. This Saturday started the slide.