ITALY LOOK TO PLAY PARTY POOPERS IN LONDON
LONDON: England and Italy are counting down to Sunday’s Euro 2020 final, with Gareth Southgate’s men seeking to end a 55-year trophy drought but the Italians aiming to spoil the Wembley party.
Sporting immortality beckons for England captain Harry Kane and his team-mates, who are desperate to etch their names in the record books by winning just the second major trophy in the nation’s history.
Wembley, which was also the venue for England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, will host around 65,000 fans for the game despite coronavirus restrictions still in place.
England began the tournament as one of several contenders to lift the trophy and have taken advantage of playing all but one of their matches at home.
Southgate’s men will be willed on by the vast majority of a crowd that created a crackling atmosphere for England’s secondround match against Germany and the semifinal against Denmark.
“We’ve all waited so long as players, as public, as people to see us in a final,” said Kane. “So these are the opportunities you have to grab with both hands.
“We have an amazing chance to win our second major trophy as a country. The players we’ve had over the years and produced, we feel proud to be representing them as well.
“We’ve got to be excited for it, we’ve got to enjoy it, but of course, any football match, we’re all winners here, we all want to win, and we’re going to need every bit of that to get the job done on Sunday.”
ITALY REDEMPTION
Standing in England’s way are a battle-hardened Italy side who have restored the nation’s pride after failing even to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
England have never beaten Italy at a major tournament, although meetings between the nations have been few and far between.
Italy triumphed in a penalty shoot-out in the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 in Ukraine and won 2-1 when they met in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, although both sides ended up being eliminated in the first round.
Both teams have been transformed since then.
The Azzurri have lit up Euro 2020 ever since beating Turkey 3-0 in the opening game a month ago.
They are on a national record 33-match unbeaten run under coach Roberto Mancini, who has spent time in England both as a player and as a manager.
This will be their third game of the tournament at Wembley, where they beat Austria 2-1 in extra time in the last 16 and Spain on penalties in a gripping semifinal on Tuesday.
“Playing at their home does
We’ve all waited so long as players, as public, as people to see us in a final. So these are the opportunities you have to grab with both hands
not scare us,” Italy’s veteran defender Leonardo Bonucci said.
“We are looking forward to taking to the field even though most of the fans present will be English. We want to do something historic, have a great performance and then we’ll see how it ends.”
Italy had the backing of around 11,000 British-based fans at the semifinal and their supporters will once again be there for the final.
Reports in Italy said that 6,500 tickets had been sold to fans already in Britain and that number would be bolstered by 1,000 more who will fly into the country for the game, including President Sergio Mattarella.
HARRY KANE England captain
We’ll try to stop him achieving this objective. As much as Messi, we also have players that deserve this title... like our own ‘Ney’ who wasn’t there for the last Copa
MARQUINHOS Brazil centre-back
RIO DE JANEIRO: Former Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Neymar will line up opposite each other in Saturday’s Copa America final looking to end a hoodoo that has also affected some of their countries’ greatest players.
Like Brazil’s Pele and Diego Maradona of Argentina before them, neither Messi nor Neymar has ever won the Copa.
That statistic will change for one of them in the dream final at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium.
For six-time Ballon d’or winner Messi, this will be his fourth Copa final and perhaps his last chance to finish on the winning side.
He’s been his team’s standout performer, as ever, scoring four goals and creating five more — the tournament leader in both categories.
But at 34, this may well be his last Copa and next year’s World Cup could be his last major international tournament altogether.
So far, finals have led only to disappointment for Messi having lost in 2007, 2015 and 2016 at the Copa, and seen his side beaten 1-0 by Germany at the 2014 World Cup. Some people believe winning something with Argentina is Messi’s only remaining professional goal.
“We’ll try to stop him achieving this objective,” said Brazil centreback Marquinhos.
“As much as Messi, we also have players that deserve this title... like our own ‘Ney’ who wasn’t there for the last Copa,” he added.
At 29, Neymar has a bit more time on his side but he was injured and absent two years ago when Brazil won their ninth title on home soil, beating Peru 3-1 in the final.
‘ETERNAL RIVALS’
But as well as the two superstars lining up on opposite sides on Saturday, this is a classic match between two world heavyweights.
“We’re going to play a final against our eternal rivals, the lifelong ones, the two most powerful national teams in South America and we hope... it will be a great match,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.
“Brazil versus Argentina is much more than a simple game of football... these jerseys make the world stand still to watch their games. That represents the history of Brazil-argentina,” added Marquinhos.
Incredibly, these two sides are not even the two most successful ones in Copa history, with Uruguay having won 15 titles to Argentina’s 14 and Brazil’s nine.
In what is the 47th edition of the Copa, this is also just the fourth time these two have met in the final, with Argentina triumphing the first time in 1937 and Brazil coming out on top in 2004 and 2007. And that is despite having faced each other more than 100 times in their history.
They have been by far the strongest two sides in the competition, even if Argentina rode their luck a touch in their semifinal penalty shoot-out win over Colombia.
‘WORLD-CLASS PLAYERS’
The two squads are impressive for their strength in depth.
In their semifinal victory over Peru — and despite Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus being suspended — Brazil left the likes of Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, Flamengo hot-shot Gabriel Barbosa and Real Madrid starlet Vinicius Junior on the bench.
In midfield, Liverpool’s Fabinho has been kept out of the side by a resurgent Fred, of Manchester United.
Likewise, Paris Saint-germain winger Angel Di Maria — a bright spark when he came on in the semifinal against Colombia — has mostly started on the bench while new Barcelona signing Sergio Aguero has hardly had a look in for Argentina.
Messi and Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez (three goals) have provided Argentina’s main attacking thrust but they have quality and creativity throughout.
“Argentina are not just Lautaro and Messi, we cannot only concentrate on those two,” said Brazil and Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro.
“They’re great players, worldclass players, but if Argentina have reached the final it’s because of the (whole) group, we have to respect this.”
As well as looking to end his career-long trophy drought with Argentina, Messi could make history in another way on Saturday.
He currently sits on 76 goals for Argentina, one shy of Pele’s South American record of 77 national team goals.