Italy opened their campaign with an emphatic 2-1 win over England in their Group D match in the Amazon city of Manaus. It was the Azzurri's 10th win over the Lions in 25 meetings.Mario Balotelli scored the all important goal early in the second half. Antonio Candreva, the top scorer for Lazio this season (12 goals), provided the cross for the Milan striker to head home. Balotelli, Italy's top scorer in the qualifiers, had almost put Italy ahead on the stroke of half-time but Phil Jagielka came to England's rescue, clearing the former's lob off the line.Claudio Marchisio fired Italy ahead on 35 minutes after Andrea Pirlo deceived England’s entire defence with an ingenious dummy from a short corner and left the midfielder with time and space to unleash a scorcher from 25 metres into Joe Hart’s bottom right corner.