Italy 1 England 0

A goal from Italian debutante Rene Gattuso eased Italy past a spirited young England team in a drenched Turin.

The second half started very poorly with plenty of free kicks but then came a minute of what proved to be decisive action.

Another good run by Emile Heskey produced a cross from the Liverpool star that Ray Parlour met on the full. Gianluigi Buffon saved a steered the ball up into the air but David Beckham could not reach the loose ball and claimed a penalty for a push by Rene Gattuso.

The penalty chance was not awarded by referee Sandor Puhl and Italy were quick to break.

Rio Ferdinand failed to clear the ball properly and Gattuso gathered and pushed it forward. Beckham stepped back as if daring the former Rangers star to let fly and Gattuso did just that. He launched the ball from twenty five metres and it slapped into the net from the underside of the crossbar.

England revived though and Heskey claimed a penalty which was turned down after an angled run into the area in the 67th minute.

Seconds earlier Buffon had been forced to save from close range when Gareth Barry had hit a low drive after Nick Barmby had fluffed a shot.

Successive substitutions wrecked the flow of the game after these chances though. Twelve changes from midway through the second half dragged all life from the game but Seth Johnson almost scored after coming on with his first touch. The midfielder was at the far post after Italy gave the ball away in defence but his effort was saved very well by Buffon.

Alessandro Del Piero came close with a precise free kick that went past the angle of post and bar in the 80th minute. Heavy and thick rain did not help conditions for the game at all.

A forearm smash from Simone Inzaghi into Gareth Southgate's face produced blood and an ugly incident in second half injury time but no action was taken against the Lazio star.

With Stefano Fiore operating in the free attacking role vacated by injured AS Roma star Francesco Totti, Italy started well without creating great chances.

Emile Heskey muscled his way all over the Italian defence and impressed in his lone striking role. He fired a shot over the bar in the 16th minute after a clipped ball through by captain Beckham but Francesco Coco responded by bringing a save from David James with a long range shot that was heading into the corner.

On the half hour Filippo Inzaghi turned and shot over with a half chance and four minutes later Heskey beat three defenders with a run but lost control of the ball as he was setting himself to shoot on the run.

England were looking comfortable at this stage with willing running supplementing the 3-5-2 systemn that gave Peter Taylor's young side more possession than of late in their internationals.

A fault in the pattern saw David Beckham go too deep at times to influence the midfield play where he was the main central player for the English and Nick Barmby proved little help for Heskey in attack but it was an improvement over the dross of recent England showings.

Beckham was, as expected, unable to hit crosses from the right from his midfield role and this cut out a main source of worry for the home side as they defended their lead.