Haven't we met before?

	24 March 2007
	VIDEO: England 3-3 Italy at Wembley
	England U21s and Italy met in a thrilling 3-3 draw in the opening game at the new Wembley Stadium

England meet Italy for the 15th time at U21 level tonight.

The series that continues in Arnhem's Gelredome, with England's second Group B fixture in the UEFA Championship Finals, began with a Championship quarter-final tie over two legs nearly 30 years ago.

The 14 matches to date have included ten in the Championship, a friendly in Monza in 2000 that was fogged off after 11 minutes - and, less than three months ago, the first official match at the new Wembley. So far England have won just four meetings in total.

Dave Sexton's England reached the semi-finals in 1978 in their first foray into the Championship and a 2-1 aggregate victory over Italy in the quarters got them there.

Nottingham Forest striker Tony Woodcock improved his chances of being selected for the seniors with a brilliant performance that included scoring both goals in the 2-1 first-leg win at Maine Road. A 0-0 draw in Rome's Olympic Stadium then took England through.

Six years later England clashed with Italy again in the semi-finals and there was more aggregate success for Sexton's side. Despite missing a handful of regulars due to club calls, England achieved a useful first-leg lead of 3-1 at Maine Road. Mark Chamberlain, Mich D'Avray and Mel Sterland (penalty) were on target.

Roberto Mancini's early goal won the return in Florence but England, the Championship holders, qualified for their second Final.

It turned out to be Italy that ended England's hopes of a hat-trick of European crowns. After lifting the trophy in 1982 and 1984 Italy beat us 3-1 on aggregate in the '86 semis.

Sexton had been forced to take an inexperienced team with six new caps to Pisa and goals from Roberto Donadoni and Gianluca Vialli (penalty) won the first leg 2-0 for the Italians.

England played with great determination in the return at Swindon's County Ground, Stewart Robson volleying them front on 55 minutes before Vialli ran almost half the length of the field to equalise near the end.

The two countries were drawn together in the qualifiers for the 1998 Finals and England were 1-0 winners both home and away.

Darren Eadie scored at Ashton Gate after a mistake by Gianluigi Buffon and Kieron Dyer's effort in Rieti took Peter Taylor's side through to a play-off with Greece.

Since then there have been two further meetings in the UEFA Finals, Italy winning 2-0 in Bratislava in 2000 and 2-1 in Basle two years later.

The three friendlies that were actually completed finished 1-1 at Bradford City in 2002, 1-0 to Italy in Carrara in 2003 and 3-3 at Wembley before a 55,700 crowd in March of this year.

England
Goalkeepers
1 Scott Carson, 13 Joe Hart, 22 Ben Alnwick
Defenders
2 Justin Hoyte, 3 Leighton Baines, 4 Steven Taylor, 5 Anton Ferdinand, 6 Gary Cahill, 14 Liam Rosenior,  20 Nedum Onuoha
Midfielders
7 Nigel Reo-Coker (c), 9 Kieran Richardson, 11 Ashley Young, 12 Wayne Routledge, 15 James Milner, 17 Tom Huddlestone, 18 Mark Noble, 23 Peter Whittingham 
Forwards
10 David Nugent, 16 Leroy Lita, 19 Matthew Derbyshire, 21 James Vaughan,

Coach Stuart Pearce

Italy
Goalkeepers
1 Gianluca Curci, 12 Emiliano Viviano, 22 Andrea Consigli
Defenders
2 Marco Andreolli, 3 Giorgio Chiellini, 5 Andrea Mantovani, 6 Alessandro Potenza, 13 Andrea Coda, 14 Domenico Criscito, 15 Michele Canini, 17 Andrea Raggi
Midfielders
4 Antonio Nocerino, 7 Riccardo Montolivo, 8 Alberto Aquilani, 10 Alessandro Rosina, 16 Daniele Dessena, 18 Simone Padoin, 21 Andrea Lazzari, 23 Luca Cigarini
Forwards
9 Gianpaolo Pazzini, 11 Giuseppe Rossi, 19 Graziano Pelle, 20 Raffaele Palladino

Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi

Kit Colours
England White shirts, Blue shorts, White socks
Goalkeeper Aubergine shirt, Aubergine shorts, White socks

Italy Blue shirts, White shorts, Blue socks
Goalkeeper Gold shirt, Gold shorts, Gold socks

Match Officials
Referee Damir Skomina (SVN)
Assistant Referees Dimitrios Saraidaris (GRE) and Tomas Mokos (SVK)
Fourth official Stéphane Lannoy (FRA)