The host country Italy took on Turkey in the first game of the competition at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The fans had filled the arena. Referee Makkelie blew his whistle and the Group A game started with every one of the 22 players pursuing the ball.
Although the Italians found it exceptionally difficult infiltrating the defense of the Turkish side, they continued pushing and pushing on in the entire of the first 45minutes expecting to get an early goal, but was constantly stopped by the Turkish defenders.
Shots were ‘fired’ all over by the Italians but all without any result. The Turkish then again, also made a few incursions creating some chances in front of the Italian goal.
In the last minutes to the end of the first half, the host country splendidly played their hearts out, dominated the game with a possessive football, and continued pushing on to get a goal before halftime, but referee Danny Makkelie from Netherlands blew his whistle for the end of the first half.
In the subsequent half, the Italians mounted more tension in the Turkish team with a forceful attack. The Italians broke up the ice in the 53rd minute with a lucky goal after the Italians crossed a ball from the right into the box of Turkey. Unluckily for defender M. Demiral, he tapped the ball into his own net, when he tried to clear it from the 18-yard box.
It was an own goal in favour of the Italians. After the goal, the Italians never relaxed, but continued ‘harassing’ the Turkey team. The goal scoring opportunities began coming from Italy. The Italians altogether assumed control over the game with the excellent cohesion looking for an additional goal.
The second goal came in the 66th minutes after a well worked ball from the Italians. Turkey’s Goalkeeper Cakir punched a long shot but C. Immobile was perfectly there to tap it into the net for Italy’s second goal.
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Ceaselessly, the Italians went on again in the 79th minutes with a third goal when Turkey’s goalkeeper messed up with an off-base pass to his player.
The Italians rapidly got hold of the ball, and delightfully played a coordinated pass into the box of the Turkish side, and afterward L. Insigne at long last twisted the ball into the last corner of the net. 3-0 is the final scoreline.
