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Can go on to tell jokes about themselves: What really cost England a loss in the Euro final?

Southgate knew best of all that England just could not afford to get to the penalties, but the subconscious feelings of inferiority and extreme caution prevented it from deciding the final.

Yochin concludes, explaining how tradition has won again and why Italy is the most deserving champion

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• England team

• Italy national team

• Gareth Southgate

• Roberto Mancini

• Euro 2020

Michael Yochin

Monday, July 12, 2021, 9 p.m.

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Summary of the Euro final: Italy defeats England 2: 3 on penalties and wins the tournament, after 1: 1 at the end of 120 minutes (Sport 1)

"I do not feel pressure. On July 9, 2006, I spent the afternoon sleeping and playing PlayStation games. In the evening I went and won the World Cup." Everyone remembers the text written by Andrea Pirlo in his autobiography. Winning was not easy, of course. The battle against France went to penalties, and Pirlo Dyke in the first kick to get the Blues on the king's road. All of their kicks went in, including that of Daniela De Rossi who is now on Roberto Mancini's coaching staff.

Pirlo was also the ultimate hero in the penalty shootout against England in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals. So it started badly for Azori, Ricardo Montolivo missed, and Joe Hart danced between the posts with a slightly smug smile. Pirlo knew he had to erase that smile to shatter the confidence of the opposing players - so he gambled on Pananka, and the ball that flew slowly down the net to the net did the job. The English did not recover. Ashley Cole and Ashley Young missed, and so there was another dismissal on penalties for the Three Lions team.

The failures from the white spot became such a routine matter that even the English themselves chose to laugh at them to overcome the disappointments.

On that legendary evening of Pirlo, the Government Tourist Office tweeted: "England is losing on penalties. Visit our website to learn more about our culture and tradition."

On Twitter they really liked the joke, and maybe it helped a bit to swallow the bitter pill.

More on Walla!

Watch the summary: Italy defeated England 2: 3 on penalties and won Euro 2020

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The English did not recover from his humiliating pananka.

Andrea Pirlo vs. Joe Hart (Photo: AP, Matthias Schrader)

Southgate knows the history firsthand

Why is this important now? Because tradition really has a very big psychological impact. The Italians also lost a lot on penalties, but when they get to a duel, they mostly remember the 2006 World Cup final, and Pirlo's genius hovers over the field for them and helps them. Against the English, the history of nine years ago is even fresher. Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini were there, and trust them they told their young friends everything about the experience.

Penalties are a lottery, and the business is sometimes decided on the basis of pure luck, but the odds are not necessarily 50:50. The English will forever be mentally inferior, easy and material when facing Italy, easy and material when their coach is called Gareth Southgate - the same Southgate who missed the fateful penalty against Germany in the semi-final exactly 25 years ago.

So true, Southgate's side apparently eliminated the curse in the last 16 of the World Cup three years ago when they made an exciting comeback against Colombia, but they did so at the expense of a losing team themselves.

Evidently, the Colombians surrendered on penalties to Argentina in the Copa America semifinals last week, and are not really known for a sturdy mentality.

Morally, the victory in Moscow was of considerable importance, but it did not prepare England for the challenges facing teams with a much more glorious tradition.

Therefore, it was critical to avoid a draw.

This is a huge drawback, but one has to come to terms with it and act accordingly, if and when the conditions allow it.

England just can not afford to get on penalties.

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Need to come to terms with the downside.

England loses another penalty shootout (Photo: Reuters)

Fourth goal in 268 games per show

Faced with this disadvantage, the English gained a host of advantages. The tournament was home, except for a celebration against Ukraine in Rome. The upper hand in the stands yesterday was huge, even without taking into account the hooligans who managed to break through the checkpoints and infiltrate the stadium without tickets. The Italians were not even allowed to train at Wembley the day before the game, ostensibly to keep the grass in rainy weather - as if drops of water from the clouds were unusual in London. Then, right at the opening of the game, England also scored a fantastic goal.

He was born, quite amusingly, the deception of Harry Maguire who returned a very bad ball to Jordan Pickford and caused a silly and unnecessary corner. The face of the Manchester United stopper betrayed enormous pressure, but it was the Blues' stationary situation that led to a fatal outburst that emphasized Southgate's thought in choosing the squad.

Italy's weak points were in the wings. The link trio are stable and great, Juventus' veteran brakemen gave an exemplary tournament, but Giovanni di Lorenzo and Emerson were not Mancini's first options. The Napoli right-back, inexperienced despite being 27, was ruled out due to the injury of Alessandro Florenzi. Emerson, who did not complete a cumulative 90 minutes in two single games as a substitute in the Chelsea uniform in the Premier League last season, was the back-up of Leonardo Spinazzola, one of the standouts of the Euros who tore an Achilles tendon in the quarter-finals.

Southgate decided to challenge them by moving to a three-brake method, and giving the two defenders freedom of action to gallop forward. And here you go - already in the second minute, Kieran Trifaire cooked up the debut goal in the Luke Shaw team. Consider that Shaw has scored three goals in 268 career games so far yesterday.

He saved the fourth for the most important moment of his life, in a tournament that was phenomenal for him, with three touchdowns and outstanding defensive work.

His sharp kick could be seen as a kind of miracle.

Gianluigi Donaroma surrendered, Italy fell behind for the first time in the Euros - and this is a team that is not used to being behind.

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Kind of a miracle.

Luke Shaw's goal (Photo: Reuters)

Mancini's substitutions worked

This could be seen in the body language of its players in the first half, and also in their decision making. The kicks were reckless, the co-operation was poor, Chiro Immobilia was completely lost between the three English brakes, Lorenzo Insigne was angry at Federico Keiza, Keiza was angry at Inicia, while England - with the huge crowd support - felt angry at the horse. Harry Kane was excellent in that half, went down to the center of the pitch, tried to steer the team in the playmaker as well, and the two Italian defenders felt really uncomfortable after the goal they conceded. Di Lorenzo and Emerson were apprehensive, and it was time to hit Brazil when it was hot.

The reality was different. If someone had told the English that Shaw's kick would be their only (!!) frame in 120 minutes, they might have given up the goal to change the dynamics. It turned out that Southgate's lineup was not good enough to endanger a rival at Italy's level even when it looked vulnerable.

Mason Mount has had a weak day offensively, while Declan Rice and Calvin Phillips - despite the effective pressure on the ball carriers - are not creative enough to fill in the gaps. England missed its chance to decide the match, and as the minutes went by it became more cautious and cowardly. It is not clear if the decision to keep the advantage was due to specific instructions from the coach or feelings of inferiority in the subconscious, but the host allowed the Blues to return to the game and gain confidence. When that happened, it was no longer possible to get the ball out of them.

Mancini made the right substitutions early in the second half.

He took out the useless immobilia, replaced him with Domenico Bardi, and made Italy's top trio much more flexible and much less predictable.

Keisa suddenly popped up much further from the left, Insignia cut to the center, and the threats intensified.

At the same time, the powerful Brian Cristante came in in place of Niccolò Barla who was not at his peak, and had a direct involvement in the equalizer when he managed to overcome an aerial battle on a corner kick and deflect it towards Marco Varati.

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As the minutes passed England was more cautious and cowardly.

Gareth Southgate (Photo: Reuters)

Varati's fatal blow

Then there was Varati's jab. If Show's goal was a miracle, what can be said about the possibility that a 165-centimeter-tall player will score in his head against England? This delusional statistic did not materialize because Pickford saved at the last minute, but Bonucci's experience did its thing - and it was actually expected. The technical brake knows how to score important goals, both in the Yuba uniform and in the national team. He also knows how to deliver brilliant depth balls, and almost arranged for Barardi to score the lead a few minutes later. The Blues got into the rhythm and tried to win this game in 90 minutes. And England? She did not take advantage of the great potential in the staff this time either.

Phil Foden was injured, but Jack Grillish came on just in the 99th minute of extra time, while Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were brought in just to kick penalties.

Southgate made the right tactical change in the 71st minute when they gave up a third brake in the absence of Immobilia and sent Bukayo Saka into action, but it was not enough to change the momentum.

It belonged to the Italians until the end of extra time, when the English made a desperate and ineffective attempt to avoid penalties anyway.

It was too late, and Mancini's aging brakes did not face particularly difficult tasks.

Both Cagliani and Bonucci carried yellow cards - the captain received his for a ridiculously blatant foul on Saka - but they smiled to the end.

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Cagliani and Mancini cried, Bonucci joked: "We taught England a lesson"

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Restore Buffon's heroism.

Gianluigi Donaroma (Photo: Reuters)

England did not exploit potential, Italy did

And in the end it was the draw in which England knew in advance that its chances were not alarming. You can criticize Southgate for the decision to give Sancho, who has completely dried up on the bench, the role of penalist, and you can come to him with complaints about the choice of 19-year-old Saka as the fifth kicker - a brave and insane gamble alike. But it's a little less than a year. England lost this final when they did not take advantage of the chance given to them and showed too negative an attitude - not really for the first time in the tournament. This is the main reason why she was not the worthy champion.

In contrast, Italy is the winning story. Thanks to Mancini, who suffered from a bad image until he took the reins in 2018 after the failure to qualify for the World Cup and instilled a very positive spirit in the team. Now he has fulfilled as a coach the dream he had as a player. Thanks to Cagliani, who was the ultimate leader at 37 after two years of injuries. Thanks to the charismatic spinachola who danced yesterday with crutches. Thanks to Donaroma for restoring Gigi Buffon's heroism in 2006 and being named player of the tournament. Thanks to Giorgini who also deserved the award, and also navigated everything yesterday, despite the severe injury to his ankle at the end of the first half. Thanks to Kaiza who made his way into the squad, he scored two critical goals in the knockout stage and was very dominant in the final as well.

Yes, the Italians deserve to celebrate now. They added another chapter to their glorious tradition. Meanwhile, English newspapers are spreading compliments on the team that reached the final for the first time in 55 years, and "almost" did it. This is a completely different mentality.

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