So its been a few days since the final of Euro 2020 between England and Italy. Had a few days now to think about the actual match but also what happened at Wembley and the stuff that has happened after the match.
The match
Firstly to the actual match. England played well in the 1st half (and what a start with that Luke Shaw goal – started move, ended move) but then pretty much stopped playing after half time. Maybe it was tiredness, change in tactics or maybe just Italy playing better. Italy were pretty poor in the 1st half.
No matter what result, it was progression for the England team. First final for the Men’s team in 55 years. In the World Cup we got to semi-final, Nation’s League was semi-final team. And the future bodes well with such a talented, young team. I think the youngest squad in the tournament – and we were missing played like Greenwood and Alexander-Arnold. But of course it would have been better to win.
We could have actually won the game before penalties when you could argue Chiellini and/or Jorginho could have been sent off. Chiellini pulled back Saka which resulted in a yellow card. I think maybe just about right. Its one of those which is like an “orange card”. But I think Jorginho should have been sent off for the tackle on Grealish. Went for the ball and partly got it but then challenge was high up on Grealish’s leg. It was in about 114th minute though – even if he was sent off, maybe makes no difference. (And amazingly Jorginho missed penalty. Actually with Jorginho missing penalty and Muller missing THAT chance when we played Germany, I thought maybe it was our year).
Now of course in the end England lost on penalties, so we managed to “not lose” in normal/extra time. Which is good against an Italy team which is very good – not lost in over 30+ games. But it just had to be penalties. There has been lots of talk about the penalties and whether it was right that Saka had the 5th one and Rashford and Sancho coming on so late. And also about why some other players did not take one.
Personally I was surprised Saka took the 5th one – the most high pressure one. Southgate himself knows first hand what could happen if missing a big penalty. Also, I don’t think it was too good that Rashford and Sancho’s first kick was the penalty. I thought at one point they were not going to get on the pitch. Had a chance 2-3 minutes earlier and I am sure they could have held on to the ball. In the end we made subs when it was an Italy corner but we were running out of time – I thought Italy were going to score from the corner!
Some people thought Grealish should take a penalty but it was Southgate’s decision not to have him take one of the (first 5) penalties. There was talk also about why Sterling did not take penalty but he doesn’t have the best penalty record. Maybe we should have got more defenders to take it? Maguire took one of the best penalties I have ever seen! And during these Euros, plenty of defenders have taken one. There is a video of Southgate going round all the players and it appears that Pickford would have been down as the 6th penalty taker!
Anyway, match ended. England did well in the tournament and future looks bright. Although I back Southgate – some of the decisions we all questioned during tournament all worked out (till the final), I do wish we were a bit more adventurous and use more of the attacking talents we have. And a bit quicker to make changes. Mount did not have a good final so could have been subbed earlier – he actually did not have that good a tournament overall.
And congrats to Italy. But maybe more important things happened during/after the match…..
Chaos at Wembley
There were many people who managed to get into Wembley without tickets. Some have been saying its 100s. I think its 1000s. They were official about 60,000 fans with tickets in the stadium so that means about 30,000 empty seats. So those people without tickets could have easily got in and found a seat. Also, all these people without tickets were unlikely to have been checked properly – for security – and also checked to see if they had negative COVID test and/or the vaccine. Although the ticketless fans were idiots, it was a failing in the security at Wembley. Probably needed more police. And maybe fencing was not up to standard?
I have read something online where someone said they got in through disabled entrance. It was all organised and they were messaging each other about weak points etc. This particular person excuse was that he wanted to go to final with his final as he had never seen England in a final before and maybe not again. Thats no excuse. Apparently that person who was seen putting a flare up his arse (why?!?), was also photographed taking drugs and also there is a photo of him in Wembley (without a ticket and not bothered at all. Although to be fair that’s no surprise he is not bothered).
With all the people in the stadium without tickets, imagine if they ended up on the pitch like when United fans got into Old Trafford. Or even if they didn’t, with so many unauthorised people in Wembley, imagine if the final was postponed or even called off!
There have been reports of people being beaten up, children getting caught in the middle of it all. Harry Maguire’s Dad ended up with damaged ribs. England are hoping to get the World Cup in 2030. There is time to repair the damage/reputation but it still not be enough. And maybe it would be a good thing?? Do ‘we’ deserve it?
Also during the final, Lando Norris was mugged (I believe in the official car park) and had his watch stolen – and it left him Ok but shaken.
Now if what happen at Wembley was not bad enough…
Racism
Unfortunately after the match, and to no ones surprise, the players who missed the penalties were subjected to racism on social media. It happens all the time now so no surprise. Social media companies like Twitter and Instagram need to do more. But we have been saying that for ages. People question why players take the knee before the match…. (And as the players have said, its got nothing to do with BLM – which some people have an issue with).
Some people will say its just a handful of idiots but its a lot more. And although there are lots of racist idiots (and idiots generally), there are more nicer people than bad. Rashford, Saka and Sancho have been getting plenty of supportive messages – and also, after the Marcus Rashford mural was vandalised with racist words, many people came to write supportive messages.
And since the final, there have been several cases of people how posted racist stuff on social media and them being arrested. Hopefully this continues where people start reporting these things. And the Internet is pretty good at finding out the ID of people. Many times people end up finding someones Facebook or LinkedIn or something like that and manage to find old posts/tweets and find out where people work.
There is the estate agent guy from Manchester who posted racist stuff – but he claimed he was hacked….. (Why would someone hack some estate agent and then post racist stuff??).
And then there was the guy who posted a racist rant video on Facebook. Apparently his “friends” he can rant a lot. He says he is a “die hard” England and Liverpool fan but has never been to a match. He also is anti-vax, brags about not wearing a mask, claims COVID is a conspiracy and rants about political correctness. So you know the type of person he is.
And another person who posted racist stuff, also claiming he was hacked….