England physio Gary Lewin is taken off the field after a leg injury during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group D match. Photo / Warren Little / Getty Images
England physio Gary Lewin is taken off the field after a leg injury during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group D match. Photo / Warren Little / Getty Images
Millions of fans cheered on the Three Lions in vain as England tumbled 2-1 in the jungle - as did their physio when he slipped and dislocated his ankle.
Roy Hodgson's side went on the offensive in the opening World Cup clash against Italy, but it was not enough. Face-painted fans from Brazil to Bristol groaned as Mario Balotelli breached England's defences five minutes into the second half, scoring the winning goal.
The despair five minutes after half time destroyed the unbridled joy five minutes before it.
Moments after Italy's Claudio Marchisio dashed England's first flushes of hope, the lions had roared back in the form of Daniel Sturridge, pulling the score to 1-1 as he danced with delight.
But there were bizarre scenes in Manaus, Brazil, as England physio Gary Lewin slipped over on the turf during the celebrations and dislocated his ankle, having to be hauled off the sidelines on a bright orange stretcher saved for players.
Image 1 of 10: Football fans watch the Fifa World Cup match England -v- Italy at The Fox, Viaduct, Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig
An exhausted England captain Steven Gerrard said after the match: "Italy are a good team and we knew how they were going to play and they never surprised us really. It's disappointing because we put a lot into it.
"I think we got criticised two years ago for sitting back and being a bit toothless really but... we pushed and pushed, we gave it everything and we did well.
"I think the chances were there, we created them, maybe we've got to look at how to finish a few chances off but we can't point any fingers. The effort and commitment was there.
"I thought we matched them all the way... It shows at this level how cruel it is, you give so much effort and you still walk away with nothing.
"It was very warm, it was sticky and the pitch was a tough pitch because it was dry and moving under foot but those are just excuses really."
As the final whistle blew England's disappointed young performers turned their minds to the next challenge - Thursday's match against Uruguay, who themselves suffered a night of despair after losing 3-1 to Costa Rica.
England coach Roy Hodgson added: "It's difficult when you lose a game... We were playing so well in the second half I thought we would get back into it... and win it."
However, he said: "It's undoubtedly the best I've seen the team play as a team during my time with them.
"I suppose you have to bite the bullet and accept that we played well but we played against a very good team.
'We're better than that, I thought, especially towards the end when we were desperate for that goal... [But] we are a young team and this is a first World Cup for almost two thirds of the team so I think we will improve upon going forward.
"We were hoping for a perfect start but we don't live in a perfect world and I'm confident that we can do well enough in the next two games to qualify."
The slippery pitch claimed its victim in the form of the team physio. When England scored, Roy Hodgson's staff were seen to jump off the bench in celebration but physio Lewin fell to the floor and repeatedly banged the ground with his fist.
With little known about the protocol for injured medical staff, given the rarity of the situation, Lewin was quickly surrounded by a crowd of around a dozen staff from both sides and FIFA before being stretchered off before a bemused Roy Hodgson.
Lewin was first team physio at Arsenal for 22 years and became an England physio in 1996 before rising to become head of physiotherapy.
It was a bizarre moment for the millions of England fans who launched an all-day celebration of football as they packed into 32,000 pubs across Britain, ready for the 11pm kick-off.
The 5,000 or so English ticket-holders in the Amazon rainforest city of Manaus, Brazil, did much the same in the 32C heat - flooding out of bars and pubs adorned with the cross of St George.
