Stealing the Show

When the Wembley Stadium re-opened after a four-plus year renovation worth up to 800 million pounds, soccer fans all over the world were expecting a fascinating match to christen the new stadium.

While the first match was between England and the four-time World Cup champion in Italy, it came with a catch: It was only an Under-21 friendly match, with the main aim of testing its safety facilities in order to obtain a safety certificate to host international matches in future.

But lo and behold, the match was an absolute classic, as good as anyone you have ever watched.

With the England fans cheering for their home team to score the first ever goal in the new Wembley, Italy decided to give them a surprise and an early present. Giampaolo Pazzini, a striker for Serie A side Fiorentina, gave the visitors a shock lead after just 29 seconds when his speculative long-range effort went in off West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand. It was the quickest ever goal at Wembley before and after renovation.

England, with the bruising Leroy Lita of Reading leading the attack, soon regained control with timely and strong tackling in the midfield, and superior ball-controlling skills. It was no surprise when number seven David Bentley, who has the same initials and jersey number as David Beckham (DB7), curled in a spectacular free-kick after 31 minutes, a la Beckham.

In the second-half, both sides made wholesale changes which injected extra energy into the match. Second-half substitute Matt Derbyshire, a teammate of Bentley at Blackburn Rovers, found Wayne Routledge with a deadly diagonal pass which made it 2-1 for the home side just after half-time. But England's advantage was soon gone when Pazzini netted his second of the match in a goal mouth scramble just minutes later.

By then Italy had regained the upper hand in midfield with the home side tiring. But in a wonderfully open match, it was Derbyshire who deflected the ball home from close range to make it 3-2.

But Pazzini had the last laugh. In a textbook counter-attack keyed by the perfect one-touch pass from Alessandro Rosina, it looked as though Pazzini had taken the ball too wide, but his angled shot somehow found its way under the outstretched hand of England keeper Lee Camp to make it 3-3. Pazzini is the first player to score a hat-trick at Wembley since Paul Scholes did it in a 3-1 victory over Poland in 1999.

Pazzini could have added a fourth, but Camp's fumble was just beyond the reach of Pazzini's legs and he could only put the ball tantalizingly wide of the gaping goal.

If they use that match to see if the new Wembley is capable of hosting international matches in future, then they should also use it to see if the Under-21 team is capable of passing off as the senior team. And with the players showing so much flair and energy, they could have beaten Israel convincingly in Tel Aviv, something the senior team failed to do over the weekend.

So I would like to see a match between the junior and senior sides, and I won't be surprised to see the young boys emerge as the victors.