UEFA have appointed the same VAR team for the final who was involved in England v Denmark.😏😏😏— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) July 9, 2021
Right but theres two sides to that coin. Italy learning from the Austria game. I've had my say on that game and the issue I believe was the lack of midfield balance. Verratti and Jorginho need not get in each others way. Verratti needs ot take a slightly different possession and make different movements when Italy have position and act as the link man between the attack and mid. He doesn't need to be on Jorginhos toes looking to always come short and start play as it creates two men doing the same job. If you get the balance right, Italy will start to suffocate England as they get pegged in and keep dropping deeper. Like we seen in the opening two games. They would have done this to Austria as well had the balance been right imo. Brain beats brawns. England can run and get scrappy but eventually they will tire if they are chasing their tails. Mancini doesnt need to do very much, it comes down to small details and if they get the balance right here, England will most likely be beaten. Of course no certainties when they have that much speed and power on the counter. Verratti needs to be huge in the game to get this balance right.
I hope you're right, I just don't see this being a walk in the park for our midfield as some Azzurri fans right now. I know how I would play Italy and I don't think Southgate is stupid.
Not entirely true. Bastion Dankert is the lead VAR official, with Pol van Boekel assisting him. Dankert worked the Italy-Belgium match. The other two VAR assistants that were involved in that England-Denmark match aren't even there, (Blom and Gil). The press like to spin things sometimes.
England will make this in to a physical match. They have very physical players in the spine , as well as speed and Quality. This could be the litmus test for the Italian team.
they beat the ventura version of Germany, the mighty ukraine.. and denmark through an OG and dive. I think we'll be more than ok fratello. We have an extra day of rest... plus Verratti and Barella got subbed out early enough where they should be fresh for the final. (think Austria game when Barella subbed out early too and came back and played great vs Belgium). We are going to dictate possession.. whip the ball around quickly... and we are going to pin Rice and Phillips back on their heels in front of maguire and co. We are also going to press high and stop England playing out from the back. Denmarks downfall was that their high press was not effective. Maybe due to tired legs from having to play the QF in Baku the game before.
and don't forget... the final is on a Sunday. Instead of them going.. we're going to take the church to them.
Rice is a clean player in fairness to him. He only had 2 yellows all season in the EPL. Phillips is more like Veratti. They're yellow card getting machines. Austria were physical, but so was Busquets. After that early Barella chance, he didn't hold back. It was one tactical foul after the other from him before he was finally carded. Anyone who plays Italy will probably need to play like that because the midfield is very good on the ball, but if Italy move the ball quickly enough they can avoid the physical challenges. I can see the English fans booing the Italy anthem and really cheer for those physical plays. It will be hard for the referee to go against England. It's going to be a long game for him if he turns the crowd against him and he will become enemy number one in England after the game.
Giorgio Chiellini played for Italy U21 against England U21 in the first official game at the new Wembley.He cracked his head open and refused to go off. 14 years later, he’s the only player from either team who is still playing. What a warrior. 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/cqqg9Spg4p— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) July 8, 2021
Wasn't that when Giampaolo Pazzini scored the first goal and first hat-trick at the new Wembley Stadium in a 3–3 friendly draw with England? I believe Pazzo rereceived a standing ovatioon from the Wembley crowd...
The English football commentariat and a certain segment of England supporters are so obnoxious that the rest of Europe would rather Italy, the perennially despised NT of "Catenaccio" and "the dark arts", win the Euros instead. That really is some achievement...
The main problem is that they'll bring in the diving team and the refs and VAR will be helping them. Not to forget, flashing lasers onto Donna's face. They WILL cheat, that's a sure thing. So we'll have to play against 11 men + 3 refs + VAR officials + 60,000 people, some of them holding lasers and booing Il Canto Degli Italiani. And we don't have Spina. Otherwise, we'd be able to handle them relatively easily, with Spina, and in a neutral arena with neutral refs. Sure, they've looked impressive, but let's not forget that they had the easiest path to the final. I don't think they'd have succeeded if they had the sequence we had, a physical and dirty Austria, a quality-laden Belgium, and a possession-dominating Spain. Still, we beat all three. They got a discombobulated Germany, then Ukraine and Denmark. No comparison. Not to forget, 6 out of 7 games at home, while others traveled all over the place. I don't want to entirely underestimate them. They have a good defense and a dangerous offense. But overall, we are the better team, and we'd prevail 9 out of 10 times in neutral conditions. Their path to victory is to copy Austria's strategy and foul a lot our midfielders (counting on the complacency of the refs), and try speedy counters. Just the speedy counters, though, should not be enough if they don't foul a lot, dive, and cheat. I do not see a way for England to win without cheating, and cheat they will. Now, it is what it is, we can't change the home field advantage, so we'll have to play twice as well to silence all these contrary winds. I mean, hopefully we can get an early goal from one of the signature Insigne curling balls from outside the box... or some explosive Chiesa goal. I also do hope like others said here, that despite his poor showing in the last couple of games, Ciro surprises everybody this time. English fans have been insufferable. Nasty, arrogant, and aggressive. It will be a pleasure if we silence them all, and show to them that football is not coming home, but rather, coming Rome.
Neutral here… been watching both teams throughout the tournament. Italy has impressed me. Really solid team… I’ll be surprised if England is able to beat Italy. England is just to loose in possession and I see Italy capitalizing in transition. Will be an interesting game.
The pressure on the English to win this game is enormous and much bigger compared to ours. The way things unfolded in this tournament, everything has gone in their favour. Its now or never for them. For us, the idea of beating England at Wembley in a cup final would be one of the biggest scalps we ever collected in our history. This team has the opportunity to do something really special
Nothing is confirmed yet for lineups but there are rumours that Mancini might be going with a false 9 and benching Ciro