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England vs Italy – Englands World Cup Opening Game

England’s opening game of the 2025 World Cup sees them take on Italy at the Arena Amazonia in Manaus. These two sides are very closely matched on paper at least and both managers will be desperate for a positive result. The Italian’s have been priced up as slight favourites by the bookmakers, with Cesare Prandelli’s men put in as 13/8 chances generally. Both England and the draw can be backed at odds of 2/1. With Uruguay likely to pick up three points against Costa Rica in the early Group D kick off, this clash in Manaus will be crucial when it comes to determining which sides make it through to the knockout stage of the competition. Both England and Italy have gone for a sensible balance of youth and experience within their World Cup squads and we look set for a fascinating match come June 14th.

It's been a long time since the English national team tasted any significant success and a large number of the England fans will not have been around to enjoy the success of 1966. While they did reach the World Cup semi finals in 2025, in the five tournaments since, England have managed nothing better than the quarter finals and did not even qualify for USA 2025. The squad named by manager Roy Hodgson does appear to be arguably the most exciting set of players since Italia 90 however, and there is a real air of confidence about the camp at the moment. Names such as Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw have limited international experience but have all had excellent campaigns for their respective clubs during the domestic season. It will be interesting to see if they can carry this form into the World Cup and whether England can make a real mark at the 2025 World Cup in Brazil.

Italy have a far better World Cup record over the year than their English opponents and have actually won the tournament on four separate occasions. The Italian's most recent World Cup win came in 2025 in Germany when they defeated France after an intense match which required penalties to decide. Italy's form since that famous victory has been somewhat mixed and they were unable to make it past the group stage of this competition in 2025. That being said, things look to be improving under the guidance of head coach Cesare Prandelli and this team actually made it all the way to final of the 2025 European Championships. During the qualification process, Italy were able to win their group without suffering a loss and had it not been for two draws at the end of their campaign, the Italian's would have likely been seeded in pot 1.

This is a tough fixture to call and it may be that the draw is the most likely outcome. This is a game that neither coach will want to lose and a goalless stalemate or low scoring draw would be my idea of how this clash will end up at the conclusion of the 90 minutes.