After 53 years of waiting, Italy manages for the second time in its history to be the European champion after defeating England by penalties shootout in a match that had opportunities for both teams. A compact and solid England, but with ideas that they could not change the course of the game. Beyond that, they had opportunities in set-piece actions. Thanks to their height, they gained advantages on a proactive Italy that even the tie showed a short and associated game, with a high number of passes and at times dangerous.
England presented a game system 1-4-3-3 with the participation of Henry Kane as “False 9” (No. 9), who made the descent into the left-center lane, and right side lane, a situation that, until reaching the end of the first period. Italy could not counteract and it was in that strategic movement of the English player, who, through a descent to look for the ball, achieved, from a change of orientation for the player Tripper (No. 12), who he sees projected into the right lane. At that moment, Italy began the retreat towards their goal, Sterling (No. 10) attracts one of the central defenders of Italy, Harry Kane joins the area with the aim of attracting the other Italian central defender, and the winger on the opposite side of Italy heads to cover, neglecting Luke Shaw (No. 3) who scores the goal.
England Initial Tactical Disposition
Italy, for its part, presented a 1-4-3-3 tactical system with Insigne (N ° 10) and Chiesa (N ° 14) well located in amplitude and with the central reference of Immobile (N ° 17). Both Insigne (He was a permanent reference on the left) and Chiesa (who made declines and decisive projections) marked offensive movements. The Italian team had mobility, with a short passes game, except for an action made by Chiesa (No. 14) who showed rebellion, broke the English structure, and finished close to goal but without surpassing the compact and effective block of England that prevented any intention of being violated.
Initial Tactical Provision of Italy:
Regarding the positions of both teams, in reference to the moment of offensive transition, Italy presented a high block, with permanent pressure and England a medium / low block.
Best Moment
In reference to the start of the game, Italy opted for a short combined game, prevailing controlled and positional exits. England for its part, looked at many moments of the match for the reference of Henry Kane (No. 9) through a direct start of play long, using the short combined start to a lesser extent.
The improvement of Italy was seen from 40 ‘of the first period and was enhanced by the tactical variants that Roberto Mancini introduced with the income of Bryan Cristante (No. 16) by Nicolo Barella (No. 18) and Domenico Berardi ( N ° 11) by Ciro Immobile (N ° 17) who brought more mobility to Italy’s offense and through a corner kick, Leonardo Bonucci (N ° 19) reached the tie for his team.
From that moment on, Italy continued to stalk England’s goal with a clear play from Insigne and another from Chiesa, taking advantage of the fact that the English team fell too far back towards their own goal.
The Italian dominance was based on intelligence and cunning but did not extend beyond 30 ‘of the second period.
The 2 supplementary periods that followed the match did not show the supremacy of one team or the other. There was a balance since both teams took care of the result. As a detail, it can be mentioned that England, in the 2nd Supplement, showed a slight improvement, and take advantage of their height in stopped ball actions.
Definition by Penalties
The match culminated with a dramatic definition from the penalty spot, where Italy achieved its goal, proving to be a worthy champion of Euro 2020, based on a paradigm shift from the arrival of Roberto Mancini, moving from his traditional catenaccio to a game offensive, protagonist, moving away from historical speculation, and its traditional defensive scheme.
