Euro finals: innate English ambition and game Italian intelligence

EURO 2020 will feature a final clash between England and Italy. The football spectacle will take place at Wembley on 11 July. Italy has come through all the odds and the opponents are among the top two. From the outset, England was favoured as a possible title contender. It is still waiting for its first European Championship trophy.

Italy has its only domestic Euro title so far, beating Yugoslavia in 1968. It was England who finished third. This year, on the other hand, the English can take advantage of their home environment.

Italy has two more silvers from 2000 (Netherlands/Belgium) and 2012 (Poland/Ukraine). The English have fewer medals, a gold from the 1966 World Cup and a bronze from the 2019 Nations League. However, in the younger categories, the English have taken home medals regularly in recent years. Often gold colours.

Italy went through Group A without defeat or a goal scored. Second placed Wales and third placed Switzerland also progressed. The Italians scored 7 goals. The matches took place in Rome. 5 Azzurri players have 2 goals each, the attacking trio of Immobile, Chiesa, Insigne are doing well.

England only needed 2 goals to advance from first place in Group D. They also kept a clean sheet throughout the matches. Two slim wins over Croatia and Czech Republic were secured by a draw with traditional rival Scotland. The Lions of Albion were drawn by Sterling and Kane, who had a blast in the knockout rounds.

Italy had to win twice only in extra time in the semi-final against Austria 2-1 in the semi-final against Spain. Here penalties came into play.

On the other hand, the 2:1 result in normal time was enough for the star generation of Belgium. All 3 goals went into the net in the first half.

England had Germany in the knockout stages, the match ended 2:0. Ukraine, who played interestingly throughout the tournament had no chance in the quarter finals, although they tried, the match ended clearly for the English 4: 0. The next match was against Denmark, who knocked out the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals. The match ended 2-1 after extra time, with England’s qualifying goal helped by a highly controversial penalty

England were helped to improve their performance by more effective finishing and only one travel. Italy relied on offensive football completed by the experienced play of the defenders and the involvement of some young players who took responsibility at the right moment. Locatelli, Pessina and Spinazzola are among those who made huge strides during the Euros. England have been helped greatly by their own progression with Shaw and Phillips.

Verratti Belotti, Florenzi did not meet expectations on the Italian side, and Rashford, Foden, Sancho, Mount and James are all washed up in the English camp.

As far as goalkeepers are concerned, Donnarumma only conceded three goals. The tournament is going well for him and he is intercepting well at the right moment. He has to watch out for risky crosses. Pickford is holding a fantastic zero. The Italian goalkeeper has talent, the English goalkeeper has form. Both opponents have equal men on the pitch here.

A comparison of the other lines is as follows. Italy have an experienced defence, England are young. The midfielders are evenly matched. England has nominally a more interesting and in terms of qualities more capable midfield, for Italy again speaks the cohesiveness already from the preparation and the unexpected improvement of some players on the roster.

The attack speaks for Italy, it has more diversity and the forwards can complement each other. England is relying on Kane only with the support of wing players. In the goals scored stats, Italy wins by a wide margin. I estimate that due to composure and careful tactics, a maximum of 3 goals will be scored per game. According to the experts, England is the slight favourite for the final.

Source: UEFA EURO 2020