Izuchukwu OkosiEngland booked their place in the Euro 2024 tournament on Tuesday night following their emphatic 3-1 win over Italy at the Wembley stadium with two games to spare.
England went down when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca fired home the ball from close range after 15 minutes of action.
The game was another testament to the rising profile of Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham who had another masterclass on Tuesday night.
Bellingham provided the assist for the second goal (both by Harry Kane,) and was overall very dangerous drawing fouls from the opponents.
Gareth Southgate’s side only needed a point to secure their place and it briefly looked like it was not coming.
Bellingham was England’s starman once more as the 20-year-old Real Madrid star led the comeback, winning the penalty that brought captain Harry Kane’s equaliser.
Kane scored his 60th goal after Bellingham ran through and was fouled by Giovanni di Lorenzo after 32 minutes.
England are now top of Group C with a total of 16 points, while the defeat means Italy are third and will play Ukraine in their final qualifier in what will be a decisive match to determine who finishes second.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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