Fulham defender Zat Knight had a starring role in the England U21 squad
draw against Italy on Tuesday evening. England's young hopefuls showed their
character to reel in a fine Italian side and delighting a substantial Bradford
audience of 21,642.
England went behind on 15 minutes when Massimo Maccarone, who had already
missed a good chance, beat Paul Robinson after being played in by Marco
Marchionni.
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Fulham defender Zat Knight nearly on the
score board for England |
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England then came close to an instant riposte when Zat Knight met Matthew
Etherington's free-kick with a bicycle kick which whistled over the bar
- no mean gymnastic feat for a central defender standing 6ft 5in tall.
Emiliano Bonazzoli came closer to increasing Italy's lead when he beat Barry
near the penalty spot, only to see Robinson brilliantly touch his shot on
to the left-hand post.
An improved second half display culminated in Fulham's Zat Knight heading
down a corner, Barry turned to squeeze a shot into the corner of the Italian
net to level the game.
It was a good result for David Platt's side, especially given that they
will face Italy at the European Championship finals in Switzerland this
summer.
ENGLAND (4-4-2): P Robinson (Leeds United, 7; sub: S Bywater, West
Ham United, 79min) — S Wright (Liverpool) 4,
Z Knight (Fulham, 65;
sub: A Gardner, Tottenham Hotspur, 79), G Barry (Aston Villa) 7, J Samuel
(Aston Villa) 6 — S Wright-Phillips (Manchester City, 4; sub: J Pennant,
Arsenal, 46, 5), D Prutton (Nottingham Forest) 6, J Jenas (Newcastle United,
6; sub: S Parker, Charlton Athletic, 46, 6), M Etherington (Tottenham Hotspur,
5; sub: P Crouch, Portsmouth, 59, 6) — J Defoe (West Ham United) 6, A Smith
(Leeds United) 6. Booked: Parker.
ITALY (4-3-1-2): G Rossi (Venezia) 6 — D Bonera (Brescia) 5, M Ferrari
(Parma) 6, P Cannavaro (Verona) 6, G Bellini (Atalanta) 5 — M Machionni
(Parma) 6, M Brighi (Rimini, 6; sub: G Pinzi, Udinese, 74), E Maresca (Juventus,
6; sub: P Castellini, Torino, 90) — A Pirlo (AC Milan) 8 — E Bonazzoli (Parma,
7; sub: V Iaquinta, Udinese, 51, 5), M Maccarone (Empoli, 6; sub: M Donati,
Atalanta, 61, 6). Substitutes not used: F Agliardi (Brescia), S Lucchini
(Ternana), C Zaccardo (Bologna), F Gatti (Perugia), A Gilardino (Verona).
Booked: Bonera.
Referee: A Kelly (Ireland) 7.
Zat was in fine voice back at Motspur Park after the game talking about
his concerns before the game how the game went and his hopes for the future.
"I wasn't sure what would happen," "I was thinking, would
I get the call or would he leave me out because I haven't been playing
for Fulham? But in the end I was just delighted to get another chance.
"I was a bit nervous at the start, but after the first five minutes
I got into it, and I thought it went quite well. We were under a lot of
pressure in the first half, but after the break we dug in and got something
out of it.
"I was very pleased with the way I played and hopefully I can bring
that back to Fulham and try now to get back into the first team."
"The first time I got called up, David Platt asked me which my favourite
position was, and I told him centre-half - I said that I was just helping
out at Fulham because of injuries. So it was very nice to play for England
in my preferred position and I enjoyed it very much.
"Hopefully it will have done me some good here as well - I haven't
even been on the bench for a while, so perhaps it can put me back into
contention."
"The Gaffer gave me the licence to get forward at corners and free-kicks."
"He just told me to get in there and make a nuisance of myself, and
I tried to do that. If the overhead kick had gone in that would have been
a bit special for my first goal.
"I was very pleased to have been involved in the goal though, it's
nice to have an assist to my name."
"They were very good tactically, and worked well on the counter-attack.
They've got some outstanding individual players.
"But I thought a draw was a fair result in the end, they worked
hard in the first half and we did better in the second. That was probably
their best team out there, and we were short of some of our first choice
players, so I think we can be quite confident going into the tournament
in Switzerland."
"Hopefully I did myself a lot of good on Tuesday." "We've
got one more friendly, against Portugal, coming up, and if I can get a
call-up for that and play a part in it, then you never know. It's in the
Gaffer's hands then, and all I can do is hope.
"Sean and I were talking about the two of us playing this morning,
it would be great to go away together and do something good for our club
and country. He was called up for Tuesday's match, but Sunday had been
his first game for quite a while and the feeling was that two games in
three days was a bit much. So I think there was an agreement between Fulham
and England that he wouldn't go.
"It would be great if we could both get picked, it would make us
very proud."