CHAPTER 136: RUNNING THE SHOW.

The England substitutes settled into their seats along the touchline while the starters lined up across the pitch.

As the noise inside the stadium swelled, one of the lads leaned forward and tapped Jerome Havne on the arm.

"Why’s your neck sticking out like that?" he asked, squinting at him.

"You’re nineteen. Don’t tell me you’re already getting stiff."

Jerome let out a small, awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"No, nothing like that. I just... thought I recognised someone in their lineup."

He glanced toward the Italian players again, then back at the pitch.

"Probably got it wrong because I do not think that person should even be in their lineup. He seemed like he would be Spanish or something."

"Someone on the bench or starting?"

"Starting," Jerome said.

"But forget it. Must’ve seen it wrong."

The substitute nodded and leaned back in his seat.

"Fair enough. Anyway, hope I get a few minutes today."

Jerome breathed out, still half-distracted, and gave him a sideways look.

"Yeah. Me too."

The RAI broadcast of the evening opened with a familiar voice easing viewers into the match.

"England against Italy at the youth level has become a strong fixture in recent years. The senior teams always give us great nights, but tonight it’s the under-21s taking the stage, and the quality isn’t very far off."

Down on the pitch, the referee checked both keepers, took one last glance at his assistants, then signalled for the start.

Brewster tapped the ball back to Gallagher, who didn’t waste a second before shifting it out to Sessegnon as England settled into their usual rhythm, moving the ball confidently from side to side while the Italians pressed in pairs, keeping the tempo honest.

For the first few minutes, it was exactly what you’d expect from two sides feeling each other out.

England circulated possession.

Italy chased, tightened lines, adjusted, and waited for a mistake.

The match’s first stretch of danger came in the seventh minute when Levi Colwill spotted Palmer pulling wide on the left and sent a curling pass over the Italians.

Palmer took off after it, with Okoli quickly matching him stride for stride while Cambiaso backed him up, dropping into the space behind after Leo shouted at him to cover the gap.

Cambiaso slid in without hesitation, cutting off Palmer’s intended angle before it even opened.

Palmer checked his shoulder before realising that the lane had closed.

And so he turned back and played it into Sessegnon, who reset the move as England worked the ball around again.

"Good discipline from Italy there," the RAI commentator said as Marco applauded from the touchline, his noise being caught over on the broadcast.

"You can see the communication from their holding midfielder between the lines. They trusted him, and the structure held."

By the twelfth minute, the RAI commentary shifted toward a measured summary of the opening exchanges.

"England have seen more of the ball so far," the commentator said, "but Italy are responding in the way they usually do at this level, with a very disciplined defensive shape. Neither side has found a way through. It’s been even in all the important areas."

But barely had he finished when the match decided to snap open.

Angel Gomes burst forward from the right side of midfield, drifting past Carlo with a quick touch, then slipping by Ricci with another burst of speed.

Italy’s block split for the first time, and Gomes used that gap to slide a pass toward Brewster, who had timed his run perfectly.

The ball only needed to reach him, and he was clean through, yet it never arrived.

Leo darted across the angle and slid in, taking the pass off the turf like he had read it two seconds ahead of everyone else.

He stayed low and swept the ball toward the opposite side while still on the ground, but four England shirts converged on him immediately.

They knew what a loose ball in that area meant.

Scalvini shouted for him to clear it as Leo got back to his feet, while Leo shaped his body toward the defender, selling the idea that he was going to play it safe.

"Libera la palla, Libera la palla(Clear the ball)," at least that was what Scalvini tried to say as the English players reacted at once, shifting their momentum toward where they expected the ball to go.

But Leo changed the picture again in a heartbeat.

His passing leg turned and tapped the ball inward before he spun away from the pressure.

The English players halted and tried to adjust, but by the time they did, the ball was already gone and flying across the pitch toward Cambiaso on the right.

"Oh, Brilliant work from the boy," the commentator said, his voice picking up.

"That’s courage and awareness in a dangerous moment."

Cambiaso controlled it on the run and found Miretti inside, but Miretti returned it again with a neat first-time pass, letting Cambiaso push forward into the space that had opened.

He reached the edge of the box, glanced inwards and then swept a low cutback toward Cambiaghi, who struck it without hesitation.

It rose too fast and cleared the crossbar, but the sound that followed shook the stands.

A long wave of oohs rolled around the stadium, followed by applause for Italy’s first real moment of danger while the commentator stayed with the flow.

"Sharp transition from Italy there. One interception, one idea, and suddenly they’re in England’s box. This match might still be level, but the tempo’s starting to climb."

The players reset for the goal kick as both sides took a breath, knowing that the previous chance had just opened the game up.

From that moment, the match carried a sharper edge.

England tried to push their midfield higher, and Italy responded by stepping into challenges earlier, trading quick attacks as they both chased the first goal.

Leo sat in the middle of it all for Italy.

Every time the ball touched his feet, he shaped up like he wanted to take someone on, gliding past pressure as if he had practised only that for months and at least to him, that wasn’t far off from the truth.

He drifted across the pitch, twisting defenders with small feints, then burst forward through the inside channel.

In one instance, he squared up Conor Gallagher, balanced right on the edge of the English shape in the midfield area.

A quick fake with his shoulder opened just enough space, and so he slipped the ball clean through Gallagher’s legs.

The moment the midfielder tried to turn, Gallagher clipped Leo and sent him down, and immediately, the referee’s whistle cut loudly through the noise.

Players from both teams closed in to check the collision, but Leo pushed himself back to his feet straight away while Gallagher stayed on the turf, holding his ankle as the medics ran on.

"That’s a late one from Gallagher. He’s been chasing Leo all evening and got himself caught there. Italy win the foul, but Gallagher looks like he’s taken the worse of it."

Leo stood a few steps away, watching the staff work as Gallagher eventually rose with help and tested his weight on the ankle.

After a pause, the referee showed him a yellow card to which Gallagher nodded, frustrated but accepting it.

The game restarted quickly afterwards as Fornella tapped the ball to Leo, who decided to skip the slow build and thumped a direct pass into the English half.

It sailed over the first line and dropped perfectly for Carlo, who took it on the bounce and hit a fierce strike toward the far corner.

The shot smashed against the post and sprang back into play, as the English players scrambled to get it, but it was Miretti who reacted first at the edge of the box.

He met the rebound cleanly, driving it low toward the opposite side, where it looked like a certain goal until Burik flung himself to his right and managed to push it wide with his fingertips for a corner.

The stadium rose with the moment, applauding the sequence while the commentator kept pace.

"Italy inches away from the opener again. A brilliant hit from Carlo, then Miretti nearly turns the rebound in. England is holding on for now."

The referee pointed to the corner as the Italian players jogged across to set up the next phase, getting players into their opposition box, while Bove ran towards the corner flag before Leo could, and so Leo settled just past the halfway line, looking to break any possible counter that would result from their chance.

Bove, after raising an arm to signal his mates in the box, sent a curling effort, the ball whistling past the first Italian player before it was headed out by Hardwood Bellis, but Leo, rushing forward, got to it before anybody could get it.

"Italy have the ball now, what next?" the commentator fired off on the broadcast as Leo approached the box, skipping past Sessegnon first before leaning in like he was going to shoot, but then he pulled back and skipped the ball over the backline.