You don't believe?
Here is the details. . .
Italy won their 4th FIFA World Cup in 2006 after defeating France in final. We saw a dramatic match, when Zidane was red carded after incident with Marco Materazzi, and eventually France lost in penalties. There is only Brazil ahead of Italy in world cup wins with 5 titles now. 2020 EURO success was their first title after that world cup win. They lost in 2012 EURO final to Spain.
I have been keenly following England for some time. They started a plan in 2012, which brought success in U17 and successive UCL semi final, final performances from English clubs. They have been really good in 2018 World cup too. I believed they would win this for the first time.
But, when i checked Italy's matches of 2006 World cup, it really shocked me. There are many similarities in their run.
Upto Semi final win both teams won 5 matches , and one draw. That too second match. Their third group stage match was against Czech Republic. Both teams played against Germany and defeated with 2 goals margin. Astonishing right?!
They also had a match in knock out against Ukraine. England beat them by 4-0, while Italy scored 3 and conceded none. In the entire tournament, both teams concede just 2 goals. They had to face penalty shootout in final, after 1-1 draw, but Italy emerged as champions but England fall. Italy scored 11 goals upto Semi final in 2006 world cup while England scored 11.
England, even though failed in final, have done extremely good in the tournament. Its an achievement that they should keep in mind and work forward with. Their 55 year dry rotten final stories can be updated with Luke Shaw's 2021 goal and win over Germany. Congrats to Italy and their coach Roberto Mancini, who managed to make this kind of a quality team from ashes of a failed team. Gareth Southgate also has got done exceptionally, but his substitution in final were not apt.
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