England have been unfortunate in the draw, both in who they are set to play and in the venue in which the first match will take place. Far from Brazil's football heartland, the Arena de Amazonia in Manaus is, as the name would suggest, slap bang in the middle of the rainforest. While the South of Brazil will be in a temperate winter during the June and July months of the World Cup, Manaus is close enough the the equator that it is constantly caught up in tropical climate conditions. Temperatures are consistently above 30 celsius and, worse, for the second week in June three days in four have virtually 100% relative humidity. Even at 6:00 in the afternoon local time this climate will be England's biggest challenge, but also could prove a leveling force between the two sides. For all that their Mediterranean nation is that much further south than England, the Italians are no more equipped to deal with Amazon levels of heat and humidity than the English and the game may come down to whoever adapts quicker. In the baking heat of mid-afternoon New Jersey in June of 1994 a highly fancied Italy team, who would eventually make the final, laboured through a match with underdogs Ireland, struggling with the temperature and with aging defenders like Franco Baresi. The well organised Irish were able to break them down and win 1-0. England can take inspiration from this when they play a similarly aging Italian side next month. Stamina and endurance will be key, as well as remaining well organised. At the European Championship a much inferior England side held broadly the same set of Italian players to 0-0 after 120 minutes. Hodgson will need to instil the same defensive resilience this time around, but not allow such midfield dominance from Italy's key player, playmaker Andrea Pirlo, now 34 and playing fewer games for his club Juventus. Jordan Henderson is not the most exciting England player, but he is probably unmatched in terms of stamina and would make a better selection here than perennial fitness worry Jack Wilshere. At the same time, England can take a leaf out of Liverpool's book and let Henderson's running and accurate passing allow Steven Gerrard to play in the more withdrawn role that has been so successful at club level this year, setting him up as an equivalent to his opposite number Pirlo. Italy's other obvious threat is a familiar one to English defenders: Mario Balotelli (even in an underperforming Milan team Balotelli has scored enough goals to make any English forward jealous). His consistency and temperament, though, remain unpredictable and he is not alone in that amongst manager Cesare Prandelli's squad, creating doubts over their ability to function as a cohesive whole (like England they qualified unbeaten for the tournament and, like England, their recent form has impressed less having not won in 5 games). Even without Southampton's team-mate brawling Dani Osvaldo, the Italian squad have disciplinary issues. Osvaldo's replacement, Roma's Mattia Destro, was dropped by Prandelli earlier in the season after punching Man United target Davide Astori, while Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has been included in the squad despite questions raised after he was sent off for elbowing an opponent last week. England can gain an advantage simply through better defensive discipline and organisation. Since this time last year, Italy's defence have conceded goals to the likes of Haiti and Armenia and at last summer's Confederations Cup in Brazil they conceded 8 in just three group games. In particular, the game against Japan on a sweltering June evening in Recife is instructive. As that game indicates, substitutions will be vital in the Amazonian climate. Italy's early introduction of Sebastian Giovinco after just half an hour swung the game in their favour after Japan had capitalised on the Azzurri's defensive frailties. However, they flagged in the heat after the hour mark and very nearly lost the game. England often introduce players too late in the day to make a difference. A substitution is most useful between half time and 60 minutes, so at this point it would be sensible to replace Adam Lallana (whose fitness and temperament suggest him as a better starter) with Raheem Sterling, whose pace and directness will then be most useful against a tiring Ignazio Abate. With this being the first game England must be positive and resist the perennial urge to introduce James Milner even if they take a 1-0 lead as this will inevitably lead to a loss of momentum and just the kind of flagging that these substitutions should be used to prevent.
