Ciao a tutti! And congrats! As we mentioned in our yesterday’s article (here) Italy are the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup Champions. The Azzurri managed to lift the trophy thanks to a nail-biting and tense penalty shootout against England. The regular game ended with a 1-1 result and after the 120th minute, the old-time foe of England stepped in. Let’s face it, England’s penalty losing streak continued on Sunday night , but over here we’ll be touching on so many other things. The history, the penalties, previous matches between the two arch-enemies and of course the memes.
But First…
2020 UEFA Euro Cup & Some Cool Games
Yup. As we mentioned earlier in yesterday’s article we do have some cool football-themed video games for you to check out. It wouldn’t be IndieGala if we didn’t have fantastic video games to show for. Regardless if you’re a fan of the eFootball PES 2021 (available here) or Lords Of Football (available here). IndieGala is also proud to present Street Power Football (just click here for that one) and so many others as well. Feel free to click here, snoop around and make the best pick for you. And of course, enjoy. We may have to wait for the next football tournament for about a year, but hey. Some things are worth the wait. However, let’s take a closer look at the history we mentioned earlier.
2020 UEFA Euro Cup VS History
Indeed. There are so many things to mention in this particular part of the article. I’ll get to the meme section of the article in a second, but first I believe a look back at the history is very much needed. However, I’ll look back at two very distinct parts of history when it comes to Italy and England. I’ll look back at their previous encounters (not just at European tournaments though)… And of course, I’ll look back at England’s history of having bad luck when it comes to the penalty shootouts. That could be an article all to itself, but I digress.
Let’s Look Back A Their Previous Matches Shall We?
Italy and England go way back. Especially in the big tournaments like the World Cup or UEFA Euro Cups like the one we had this year. And to be honest, Italy has the better result in almost all of their matches together. But let’s try and take a trip down memory lane. Right before Sunday’s final England and Italy met at the group stage of the 2014 World Cup. Yup. The last competitive meeting between these sides was their opening game at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the tropical climate of Manaus, Brazil. And once again Italy beat England but with a 2-1 final score. The 2012 Euro match was a lot more interesting since it was a quarter-final match. And it ended with penalties, in which Italy was the winner of course. Oh, and Andrea Pirlo’s Panenka spot-kick was a thing of beauty that night, don’t you think? My god, that was a fantastic penalty kick.
And we’re moving back to the ’90s and the 1990 World Cup third-place play-off game in which England lost to Italy once again. 2-1 for Italy was the final result but both sides had suffered heart-breaking defeats on penalties in the semi-finals. England 0-1 Italy was the result in the Euro 1980 group stage and it kinda signaled that it’s going to be heartache from then on.
England And Penalties: A Football Mystery (Or Misery)!
Sunday’s game was just another heartbreak in the long line of heartbreaks for the England fans. They’ve lost games on penalties for so long that I found articles from psychologists that are trying to crack the mystery behind it. Will England be forever haunted by the curse? Or there’s something more deeper in this problem for the Three Lions? Low self-esteem? Nerves and the overbearing pressure to win? For many football fans, that oh-so narrow defeat to Italy reawakened a host of painful memories of similar losses in the past. For instance, the defeat from what was then West Germany in 1990. Yes, that one is still a fresh wound for many English fans.
Next to Germany again, but this time in the 1996 Euro Football Tournament. Not to mention the defeat from Argentina in 1998, Portugal in 2004 and 2006. And Italy yet again in the 2012 European Football Tournament. Those are plenty of bad memories for the English fans. And yes. Even for the current England manager Gareth Southgate. Famously he missed a crucial penalty in 1996 himself. Yes, that 1996 tournament, and I can only imagine what the penalty shootout felt for him now. But back on Sunday, Saka’s agony was immense, to say the least. As his shot was saved by the Italian keeper — the 6 ft 5 in colossus Gianluigi Donnarumma. But the English fans were ready for that trophy. As they called it… It’s coming home… Except it didn’t come home. It went to Rome instead. However, the hangover and the memes did. And it’s only fair to look back at some of them too. Because, why not?
2020 UEFA Euro Cup: The Memes Were Fantastic
They still are, to be honest, even days after the final. Some English fans even made permanent tattoos with the trophy and England as the winner of Euro 2020. The tournament was truly blessed with some of the best memes and it’s only fair to name a few of them. You know just for fun. However, we’d love to know your favorite memes from Euro 2020. Share some of your favorites memes about the Euro 2020 final. And as always, we leave one tournament behind, but we look forward to the World Cup in Qatar next year. Will Italy repeat the success of Wembley Stadium? Or England will finally win a trophy? Let us know what you think.
