England World Cup campaign begins with Italian video night

Team trains in Portugal, and studies film of Italy, as they prepare for Amazon opener

England captain Steven Gerrard alongside Roy Hodgson
(Image credit: CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

England's World Cup preparations got serious on serious on Tuesday as the squad trained at the Vale do Lobo resort in Portugal. That run-out was followed by what The Times describes as "the first of many sessions with the FA's video analysis team". Together with the Football Association's performance analysis manager Andy Scoulding, Gary Neville has been busy compiling footage of Italy's recent matches so that when the two sides meet in Manaus on 14 June in their tournament opener England will know what to expect.

Defenders, midfielders and forwards will all be given their own video highlights packages going back two years to when Italy beat England on penalties in the quarter-final of the 2012 European Championships to study and digest.

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