Italy defeated Belgium with a convincing victory highlighting the defensive abilities of Antonio Conte’s men. While everyone was talking about Belgium’s attack and their star players, they failed to get past the resilient Italian back four. Here are a few events that may have altered the proceedings.
Radja Nainggolan early strike tested Buffon and had it found it’s way in Belgium could have been in a great position considering how they started the game. They had several other chances before Italy’s 32nd minute goal and could have easily been 2-0 up by halftime.
Lukaku missed a great opportunity to equalize and should have scored after a fine ball from De Bruyne which opened up the Italian defense for the first time in the game, had he equalized then the game would have been completely different considering how Belgium were dominating the possession.
Right After Lukaku’s miss Pelle had a fine chance to double Italy’s lead , 2-0 at that stage would have been the killer punch then and there.
Divock Origi had one too many chances to list which he failed to capitalize before Pelle eventually made it 2-0 , any of those would have easily made it 1-1 right at the end , a point which Belgium would have deserved.
