The Final - Italy v England

[Ray de Galles]

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1415039878295851010?s=21

[ursus arctos]

Really should be played at the San Paolo

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

All Proceeds to go to settling his tax bill

[ursus arctos]

Late soccer legend Diego Maradona has seen his long-running row with the Italian taxman settled after his death in November.
The Argentina and Napoli great has been forgiven in a case of some 40 million euros of arrears owed to the taxman, it emerged Thursday.
The case was discussed by the supreme Cassation Court on October 20 and published on Thursday

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Its seems Chiellini committed an even more heinous crime during the penalty shoot-out. He placed an Argentinian curse on Saka as he walked up to take his kick. Sure worthy of a lifetime ban?

Love your avatar.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

After getting some time away from the game and then going back to it, I think I'm fairly comfortable in terms of sussing out what happened tactically, at least in the most basic sense.

Mancini set up Italy deep and narrow, with the intention of guarding against England's speedy attackers, which would be a pretty good plan against the 4-3-3 that England had played most of the tournament. Only Southgate instead came out with the 3-4-3, I think primarily as a defensive tactic; however, it worked out extremely well because it enabled Shaw and Trippier as wingbacks to push up high in a way that the fullbacks in England's back four generally didn't. Suddenly the Italian back line was caught with a huge amount of space in front of it, where Kane was allowed to drop and then play passes out wide, where the wingbacks were running free. Obviously this led directly to the first goal, with Shaw playing it to Kane to Trippier to Shaw, and it really should have been more.

Instead, England only got the one, and Mancini responded relatively quickly by moving the Italian defensive line higher up the pitch and stretched it wider, to allow the Italian fullbacks to pick up the wingbacks when they got forward and to get more coverage from the midfield on the space that Kane was dropping into. Crucially, Southgate did not appear to respond to this at all. On one hand, England had the lead and therefore had no immediate need to do anything other than defend. On the other hand, this wasn't a situation of a minnow fluking a goal against a bigger team and then having to turtle. England have a very good team and the best bench at the tournament and had the potential to respond tactically -- the space was still there, just behind two aging Italian CBs. They could have used the players on the pitch on the time, by dropping Mount into a midfield three, then playing Kane as more of a traditional nine running off the shoulder and Sterling drifting around. Or bring on Sancho or Rashford off the bench (or both!) and get these direct, pacy players running at the Italian defense. Instead it was cross your fingers and hope Italy doesn't score, which they inevitably did.

You have nailed it. At the risk of just repeating what you have already said - Kane loves to drop deep, that is his modus operandi and he is an effective playmaker as his pass to Trippier for the goal attests. However on Sunday the role Englands striker needed to fulfill was to exploit the space behind the CBs or be physical and tussle with Chiellini et al.

I havent rewatched the game but I think the way Kane played made him easy to contain & not asking enough questions of the Italian centre backs. Mancinis outlook would have been - we can live with all of Kanes touches being 50 yards from goal..

[danielmak]

If anyone is looking for more media analysis, I think the Totally Football Show podcast includes some interesting discussion about the final. (If you want to listen on the go, right click/control click and save audio as.)

[Ray de Galles]

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1415039878295851010?s=21

European champions Italy will face Copa America winners Argentina next June.

Uefa, European football's governing body, said agreement had been reached to play three editions of the intercontinental match.

Uefa said the exact date and venue for the match were still to be confirmed, but Naples is reportedly a contender.
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[imp]

That's effectively the World Cup final - or the Confed Cup without the hassle of eliminating New Zealand, Egypt, US/Mexico etc. Might as well scrap Qatar 22 and declare the winner as world champion.

[Ray de Galles]

That appalling Atomic Kitten/Southgate song popped in to my head for some reason the other day.

It was absolutely unavoidable for a few weeks less than three months ago and now seems like a forgotten relic of a bygone civilisation.

It's obvious why but it's a vivid illustration of what a fevered, frenzied otherworldly air there is around international tournaments that reach way past the football world

[Kevin S]

Just goes to show once again that international football is A Bad Idea.

[Sean of the Shed]

International football is great, well once you get to the finals tournament. It's the overwhelming tedious blather that surrounds it that is so awful, but you can't hold football responsible for that.

[Satchmo Distel]

Copa v Euros one-off game is actually a revival of an old format: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemio_Franchi_Trophy

ESPN's report over here specifically framed Italy v Argentina as the 3rd such contest.

[Ray de Galles]

Just goes to show once again that international football is A Bad Idea.

I thought we have concluded that international football is The Best Thing Ever?

I mean, the English seem to have bizarre issues regarding it but they do about a lot of things.

[Ray de Galles]

Ooooh!

https://twitter.com/EURO2024/status/1506257891761795073?s=20&t=TcaEiVMqhpc5IvCCxz5Acw

[Gangster Octopus]

If it wasn't my wife's birthday, I'd be interested in that.