Italy was in a no nonsense mood when they took on England in their Group D opening match under oppressive heat and humidity at the Manaus Stadium on Saturday.

Both teams started out tentatively with the first half ending as an evenly contested encounter with a 1-1 scoreline.

However, Mario Ballotelli’s header early in the second half made the difference and puts Italy ahead in their Group D game.

Claido Marchisi took advantage of a dummy from a cross to put the ball beyond the outstretched arms of England goalkeeper Joe Hart in the 35th minute to make it a 1 nil start for Italy.

The English, however, responded with Daniel Sturridge scoring from a Wayne Rooney cross  which stunned the Italians fans into silence as the score draw to 1-1.

Italy, however, broke the deadlock early after the resumption with a header from Ballotelli at the back post after a well worked cross from Antonio Candreva.

Earlier Costa Rica humbled highly fancied Uruguay 3-1 to throw Group D wide open.

Marcia Greene, Readers Bureau Contributor