ITALIA … when it really matters !
Before last Sunday’s Euro 2020 final, Italia and England had met competitively eight times. The first time was in 1976, when they were drawn together in the same qualifying group for the 1978 World Cup. Joining them in the same group were Luxembourg and Finland. Only one team could qualify for the finals in Argentina. Italia beat England 2-0 in their home game played in November 1976, while England beat Italia with the same score in their home game, played in November 1977. However, England’s win was of little ( or NO ) significance. By then Italia had seven points and England 10. Both Italia and England had a goal difference of +11, but Italia had still a game to play and what was needed from them was to beat minnows Luxembourg with just one goal. The match on the 3rd December 1977 ended 3-0. Thus Italia also ended up with 10 points but with a +14 goal difference. Italia qualified for the finals in Argentina and went on up to the semifinal stage, finishing 4th. Their next encounter was during the final stages of Euro 1980. Italia and England were drawn in Group 2 with Belgium and Spain. On 15th June 1980, Italia beat England 1-0 and subsequently qualified for the knockout stage, along with Belgium.
The two countries met each other again competitively for the fourth time in the 1990 World Cup. Both teams had lost their respective semi-finals, so they faced each other to decide the third and fourth place. Italia won 2-1. In the build-up to the 1998
World Cup, Italia and England were once again drawn in the same qualifying group, together with Poland, Georgia and Moldova. Only the top two placed would qualify for the finals to be held in France. Italia beat England 1-0 at Wembley on 12th February 1997. The return tie played in Italy inOctober 1997 ended up in a goalless draw. Both Italia and England qualified.
They met again in the Poland/Ukraine Euro 2012 at thequarter final stage. The match ended 0-0 after extra time, but Italia went through after the penalty shootout ended 4-2. The last time Italia and England had met was on the 14th June 2014 at the Brazil World Cup, when they were drawn in the same Group again, along with Costa Rica and Uruguay. Italia beat England 2-1 in their opening match, however both teams were eliminated.
Notwithstanding these hard facts and harsher realities, up until last Sunday evening, the English fans and media were insisting that ‘IT’s COMING HOME ’. And that is because they claim that football was invented in England. However, the Director of the National Football Museum, Kevin Moore, when interviewed by the BBC, stated that “… while England is the birthplace of the modern game as we know it, we have always acknowledged that the origins of the game lie in China”. English singer-songwriter Ian Zacary Broudie explained to THE GUARDIAN that “It’s Coming Home” is more about being a football fan, which for 90% of the time means losing. English comedian David Baddiel even went on to add that “Three
Lions, really is a song about magical thinking. It’s hope over experience. Three Lions is a song about loss: about the fact that England mainly lose.” TIME magazine also commented that “…to suggest football was somehow stolen from England is to imply that Mozart owes royalties to the crude percussionists of the cromagnon era. Better to figure what England could ‘borrow ’ from modern football, if it is to become competitive any time soon.”
Finally, and most importantly. During these two years of the COVID19 pandemic, every country in the world was focused on its R factor. Unfortunately for them, England did not, and ignored it. The R factor proved the be the game- (and the song-) changer. The R replaced the H to turn Home to Rome.