Shame on me, i have barely been watching this tournament but my interest in football has been decreasing the last 15 years but it's still fun on occasion so i will see the finale now.

Yeah, me too. It’s all about money now, they barely even talk about the games, just how much money is going around. This tournament has been ok though.

Been a good half, great goal of course. Italy are missing a player down that wing. Not been much in the way of opportunities at either spend other than that.

Yep, the increasing influx of money has made football and especially clubs like switching underwear, you do it everyday. I also have the feeling that team chemistry and club loyalty has gone down as a response to it so sometimes i go back and watch old matches that i remember to see if i am mistaken but it does indeed seem i was not.

Too much money helps no one, it was always go downhill after a certain extent.

Yes the match has been entertaining enough but thankfully it's national team football which is still fun for most part.

Wow, what a finale! Congratulations to the winner!

Ended in a flip of the coin, but yes, England went out to lose again. Same old, we scored then went to sleep.

I hate finals being decided on penalties. I might wager England (and Southgate) hate it more at this point. Oh well. At least it wasn't decided on a blatant dive or some ridiculous challenge.

The true tragedy here is now we just go back to club football and as an American that means trying to get up and be coherent at 9am on Saturdays.

IT'S COMING ROMEEEEE!

It's coming home...to Rome.

E l'Italia vince!!!!

Sorry next time England.

Campioni d'Europa!!!

Funny.

No, I am afraid not. They had all home games, the easiest run to the final, home advantage, and started with a goal, and yet still seemed to be unable to win. Nothing will make us win I am afraid, especially seeing as the media are all: “we are so proud”, “you did so well”. Suppose they will just have to drift back to their local teams and 100k a week games.

the last time italy won in europe was 1968 (even less than world cup). the first half they were actually really good so they could actually won, it was decided on penalties after all (that's much more luck based than the whole game).

The only thing that I didn't like in the yesterday game was boo in the national anthem, that was really unexpected and lack of respect on the part of the English supporters. But it was not the fault of the players or Southgate (whom had urged them not to).

I can also admit that the best team I saw was Spain (Italy won but only thanks to a strong defense and the incredible Chiesa... The others didn't have much initiative).
The Italian national team still has to correct some defects if it does not want to lose at the World Cup (in particular Immobile and Belotti did not give what they could).
In the end, the same goes for England. They got some amazing players but they still need to work on something like precision in passes (they made really bad mistakes that's why they could not shoot a lot in the second half).

I went back to look at the world cup they won 15 years ago and there was some coincidences a commenter from a videclip highlighted. The audio from the fans sounded like it was taken from the English side so you would hear their boos and cheers louder than their opponents.

15 years ago Italy won the World Cup (2006) not the Euro Cup. The last (and only until yesterday) Euro Cup won by italy was on 1968.

About the boos the problem is that it was on the national anthem, nobody should do that. Of course there were a lot more supporters for England at the stadium yesterday but it was not just a camera thing, even the players heard (they tried to cover the boos by shouting).

It's not something you see much in football and I didn't like it. The national anthem is sacred and must be respected. You can do boo later (I prefer to cheers good plays than boo the opponent team, but I can understand boos during playing).

The above is a quote and I seem to have messed up showing it.



I miss Zidane so much. The elegance and mastery of ball control/space and the raw gritty thuggish side he displayed on occasion, just reminding everyone that all the money and sponsorship in the world can't hide where this amazing game comes from. That's not sarcasm either.

Good game to Italy the other night though. Neither side played badly overall but damn if penalties aren't a sad way to end a final. If there are more games I understand rest time is needed for the next round but in a final....just keep tacking on extra time I say. Someone will get tired enough to make a mistake. With youth games penalty kicks are a little different I feel (having officiated quite a few), but at this level it's not that far off a coin flip to me. You pick a direction and jump. There's slightly more to it but there's not much room for correction if you pick wrong no matter how good your reflexes are.