Macro-bottle preview and vandalism around Wembley before the final
Football codes state that a change should never be made when defending a corner.
Gareth Southgate
knows that unwritten rule, but he didn't care. The extension was already expiring and he had decided to put
Rashford
and
Sancho
on the field
with the clear objective that they would take two of the five penalties in a shoot that already seemed inevitable. He found no punishment in that Italy corner, but his decision turned out to be a fatal mistake. The two young forwards missed their pitches and, although
Jorginho
and
Pickford added
emotion to the outcome,
Donnarumma's
final
save
to
Saka
They confirmed the national catastrophe in England, the glory for an Italy forced to row against the current during the 120 minutes that the match lasted.
It was the selection of
Mancini
the one that took center and, this is how the azzurra is now, they prepared to braid a long possession, moving the starting ball between their centers and the midfielder.
Automatically,
Wembley
en masse began to roar to intimidate the selection that, curiously, played at home.
It was only on paper, of course, since the crosses of St. George were overwhelmingly in the London stadium.
Never has a country enjoyed so much support in a Euro Cup final, thanks to restrictions on foreign travelers.
Total, not at all.
Wembley finished exploding when, after just 117 seconds,
Luke Shaw
opened the scoring in favor of England. Never in the previous 15 Euro Cup finals had a goal been scored with such haste and it was achieved by the
Manchester United side
against a team that, beyond its aesthetic evolution, had shown great offensive strength throughout the tournament, honored to their tradition. Everything seemed to lead to a glorious coronation of the
Three Lions
.
However, when push came to shove, England ended up failing because of the mischief with which their coach decided to manage all the talent at his disposal. He decided to look at himself in the mirror of traditional Italy, in the
most radical
catenaccio
, to defend
Shaw's
opening goal
. Paradoxical choice against a rival who has followed the opposite process in recent years, convinced after its collapse in 2017 that its lifelong form could no longer give it more revenue, that it was exhausted. He retains part of his roots, there is
Bonucci's
tying goal
after a corner kick, even survival on penalties thanks to an imperial goalkeeper, but he has sought an evolution to which
Southgate
decided to resign.
Football has ended up rewarding the bravest of the two teams.
Italy
thus collects glory in a tournament that had historically been hostile to it.
Four-time world champion, the only continental title on her record dates back to 1968, when ties in the finals were still resolved with a tiebreaker match.
Since then, he had only played two other finals, the one he lost in 2000 against the France of
Zidane
and
Henry
and the one remembered in 2012, in which
Spain
revalidated with a 4-0 the title they had won four years earlier.
And the curse continues for the national teams in a final.
Like
Portugal
in 2004 and
France
in 2018, England was defeated in their own country.
Football is not coming home
, the calcium, now renewed, prevails.
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EurocopaThe explosion of Chiesa and a lineage heir to the Mazzola and the Maldini
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