Final: Italy - England

[NimAraya]

Former Italy international Alessandro Altobelli said it’s ‘joyful’ winning at Wembley against England. ‘They always think they are the greatest, but in their trophy cabinet there’s one rusty cup from 1966’.

Bonucci: "All this 'coming home' stuff spurred us to win Euro 2020".

 

[I4E]

Yep. I for one am overjoyed the Italians shut the English mouths with that victory.

Sick to death of hearing the 'it's coming home' shit from the English.

 

[Choppin Onions]

What’s most impressive about this Azzurri side is that they managed to win it all without a competent CF. Immobile was even worse than I imagined he’d be once the fixtures got tougher. Belotti works hard but no one will ever confuse him with Vieri or Baggio out there.

 

[brehme1989]

Di Lorenzo smoking the cigarette of victory in the locker room

 

[ciamac]

1.4 billion $ squad my ass.

 

[.h.]

the thing to take in context with England is _HOW YOUNG_ that squad is. only 2 players in the whole squad were >=30 years old. Werent they like the 4th youngest squad at the Euros?

Italy's 3 youngest players were Donna, Bastoni, Raspadori. England's are Saka, Bellingham, Foden

Look at the stars - the oldest, imho, is Kane at 27. You've then got Sterling (26), Sancho (21), Foden (21), Mount (22), Philips (25), Rice (22)...


They need a top goalkeeper, IMHO, and the defense needs work (e.g. I think they were mostly OK last night, but they could do with improvements, I dont really rate Maguire and Stones is a rotation player at City)


There's a lot of talent there, and they're only gonna grow from here.

Italy's at the start of another rejuvenation age - it might not be immediately (only Chiellini and Bonucci, imho, are soon in the firing line) - but there were a lot of >=30-ish players last night, and I dont think there's as much Italian talent coming through.

 

[Shark]

After that Tom Cruise-Beckham fist bump, I knew England would lose.

I have to say, I took more pleasure seeing England losing than Italy winning (especially after seeing Barella substituted for fkin Cristante who did absolutely jack).

 

[Glass box]

Chiellini reminds me of 2006 Matrix

 

[.h.]

barella was really poor all game imho. Barely involved, the only thing I can really remember him doing is accidentally fouling Kane once and then getting a booking in the 2nd half.

 

[Glass box]

After that Tom Cruise-Beckham fist bump, I knew England would lose.

This

 

[YoramG]

So happy to be able to freely cheer on Donnarumma now, what a fucking keeper.

Barella was indeed poor from the Belgium game onwards, but he made his contribution. I actually thought Cristante made a good impact. He (along with Immobile coming off) really helped us grab hold of the midfield.

Also, I’m so torn on Southgate. He keeps getting good results, but in game management is atrocious sometimes. Why would you EVER let a 19 year old take their first senior penalty in that game, and why on earth would you not throw Sancho, Rashford, and Grealish at an obviously tired Bonucci and Chiellini for at least 30 mins? Shocking.

 

[Glass box]

"Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini both completed the entire #EURO2020 tournament without being successfully dribbled past by an opposition player or making an error leading to a shot"
-Squawka football.

And how many times we read on this forum how embarassing it was that Chiellini "man-handled" Lukaku?

 

[Bluenine]

Mancini now has 16 months to get Raspadori ready for the starting role, or get Zaniolo ready for the false 9 role.

 

[PHM1605]

"Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini both completed the entire #EURO2020 tournament without being successfully dribbled past by an opposition player or making an error leading to a shot"
-Squawka football.

And how many times we read on this forum how embarassing it was that Chiellini "man-handled" Lukaku?

That stats was wrong in the final alone. Chiellini got a yellow after he was outrun by Saka and in danger of a one-on-one.

 

[YoramG]

That stats was wrong in the final alone. Chiellini got a yellow after he was outrun by Saka and in danger of a one-on-one.

But he wasn’t dribbled past. He misjudged a bounce IIRC and Saka would have reached it before him.

I could be wrong.

 

[Harpsabu]

Plus saka handballed. That's how he "misjudged" it

 

[pupivn]

if losing Euro to win World Cup like France, I think it's fair trade-off

 

[Glass box]

Mancini's son's seat was taken by the fans that broke into the stadium before the game, so he watched first half on the steps and the rest of the game on a different seat.

Lol

 

[andrei]

the thing to take in context with England is _HOW YOUNG_ that squad is. only 2 players in the whole squad were >=30 years old. Werent they like the 4th youngest squad at the Euros?

Italy's 3 youngest players were Donna, Bastoni, Raspadori. England's are Saka, Bellingham, Foden

Look at the stars - the oldest, imho, is Kane at 27. You've then got Sterling (26), Sancho (21), Foden (21), Mount (22), Philips (25), Rice (22)...


They need a top goalkeeper, IMHO, and the defense needs work (e.g. I think they were mostly OK last night, but they could do with improvements, I dont really rate Maguire and Stones is a rotation player at City)


There's a lot of talent there, and they're only gonna grow from here.

Italy's at the start of another rejuvenation age - it might not be immediately (only Chiellini and Bonucci, imho, are soon in the firing line) - but there were a lot of >=30-ish players last night, and I dont think there's as much Italian talent coming through.

I agree completely. Even with this fuck-up, the future of England is pretty bright. They have a lot of young talented players.
Italy need to adopt the english homegrown-rule or the spanish/german system with a second team who plays in 2nd or 3rd division. This primavera system is useless. Look at Esposito for example. He was a beast at primavera, but when he was sent to play in the second league, he was just not ready. These kids need to play professional football from 16-17y. Even if it in the lower divisions.
Since the introduction of Bosman rule, italian footballers were the victims. There was no countermeasure to protect them. Yes, Italy has won, but as a talent level, I don't think you can compare this generations with the past ones. Quantaty and quality wise. In 90', the coach (Sacchi) had the luxus to let home the heros from last night (Mancini and Vialli), because there was enough similar talent. And both of them were quality wise superior to everything Italy has now to offer.

 

[.h.]

to be honest, personaly I think one of the big challenges in Italy is the lack of professional football. Really you have, what, 2 maybe 3 tiers? Where you've got professional teams and then you run out pretty quickly. And even at Serie A level, now, the worst teams are really a long way off Serie A standards. Spreading more money more evenly will inevitably help, but I dunno.