How Italy were crowned European champions after breaking English hearts in shootout | Football News – Times of India

LONDON: All day, there had been noise. The songs had started early in the morning, as the first few hundred fans appeared on Wembley Way, flags fluttering from their backs. The songs started as soon as the train doors opened at the Wembley Park underground station, the renditions of “Three Lions” and “Sweet Caroline.”
Inside the stadium, the noise rang around, gathering force when it seemed England was experiencing some sort of lucid reverie: when Luke Shaw scored and the hosts led the European Championship final inside two minutes and everything was, after more than half a century, coming home. There was noise as Italy scrapped and clawed their way back, taming England’s abandon and wresting control of the ball, Leonardo Bonucci’s equalizer puncturing the national trance.

There was noise before extra-time, Wembley bouncing and jumping because, well, what else can you do? There was noise before the penalty shootout, the prospect that haunts England more than any other. It was a day of noise. What all of those inside Wembley will remember, though, is not the noise but the sudden removal of it, the instant absence of it.

England hosted more games than any country in Euro 2020. Wembley was home to both the semifinals and the final. More important, Southgate had at his disposal a squad that was – France apart, perhaps – the envy of every other team here.

In that telling of Euro 2020, Italy was somewhere between a subplot and a supporting cast. Italy’s journey does not have the grand historical sweep of England’s. But perhaps the story is actually about a country that did not even qualify for the World Cup in 2018. Instead, it has been transformed into a champion, once again, in the space of just three years.

ROCK BOTTOM IN 2017: This TOI sports page from November 2017 depicts how Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup (2018 in Russia) for the first time in six decades. The four-time champions lost their two-leg playoff to Sweden to suffer a humiliating failure
Roberto Mancini’s Italy have illuminated this tournament at every turn. And how, against a team with deeper resources and backed by a partisan crowd, it took control of someone else’s dream. In those first few minutes Sunday at Wembley, when it felt as if England were in the grip of some mass out-of-body experience, Italy might have been swept away by it all.

England, at times, looked as if they might overrun their opponent. But slowly, almost imperceptibly, Italy settled. It felt England were losing the initiative, but really Italy were taking it. Italy scented blood. Bonucci tied the score, a scrambled sort of a goal. Extra time loomed. The clock ticked, and the prospect of penalties appeared on the horizon. For England, one last test, one last ghost to confront.

Andrea Belotti was the first to miss for Italy in the shootout. Marcus Rash-ford stepped forward. As he approached the ball slowly, trying to tempt Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Italian goalkeeper. Donnarumma did not move, calling his bluff. Rashford hit the ball. It struck the foot of the post. Jadon Sancho missed, too, his shot saved by Donnarumma. But so did Jorginho, Italy’s penalty specialist. For a moment, England had a reprieve. Bukayo Saka, the youngest member of Southgate’s squad, walked forward. England had one more chance. And then, just like that, it was over. Italy players, European champions now, sank to their knees in disbelief, in delight.