Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Euro 2020: What to Watch as England Faces Italy

Euro 2020: What to Watch as England Faces Italy

The Euro 2020 final has been a month in the making, and features a showdown of two of Europe’s biggest names: England and Italy.

Italy, seeking its first major championship since the 2006 World Cup, and England, which needs to go back 40 years further for its defining moment, will meet on Sunday in the final of the Euro 2020 soccer championship.

Don’t miss a moment at the Tokyo Olympics: Sign up for our daily email update with the biggest highlights, the latest medal count and the stories you won’t see on TV.

The game, at London’s Wembley Stadium, kicks off at 3 p.m. Eastern. Here’s what you need to know.

How can I watch?

The Euro 2020 final is being broadcast in the United States by ESPN and Univision, and via the ESPN+ and TUDN streaming platforms.

To find out where you can watch in other countries, search this list on UEFA’s website.

Has either team ever won the Euros?

Italy has, but only once, in 1968. It is much prouder of the World Cup section of its trophy case, which includes titles in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. Italy last played in the European Championship final in 2012, a game it would rather forget.

England? It has never reached the European final, or any other major final for that matter, since it lifted the World Cup in 1966.

How did the teams get here?

Expect England to be quite comfortable at Wembley, its national stadium and the site of five of its six games in the Euros. That home-field advantage has been criticized by those who think UEFA, European soccer’s governing body and the tournament’s organizer, had its thumb on the scale for an important tournament partner.

The problem with that theory is that it applied to the three other semifinalists — Italy, Denmark and Spain — who also played their first three games on home soil. Did that lack of travel play a role in their success? Probably. But did they have to win the games on the field to make it this far? Absolutely.

England, in fact, did that quite comfortably, beating Croatia (1-0), tying Scotland (0-0) and then the Czech Republic (1-0) in the group stage. A 2-0 win over Germany in the round of 16 exorcised some demons, and Ukraine, thumped by 4-0, was a mere speed bump in the quarterfinals. Five games, and a place in the semifinals, and the English had yet to allow a goal.

That left Denmark, the neutrals’ favorite and the only team to score against England in the entire tournament, as the last hurdle to the final. But the Danes — dragging badly in extra time after a side trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, in the quarterfinals — were swept aside by a late Harry Kane penalty.

Italy, like England, opened with three group-stage games at home and breezed through them: Turkey (3-0), Switzerland (3-0) and Wales (1-0) proved to be little trouble.

Italy needed extra time to beat Austria in the round of 16, but avoided it while stunning Belgium, the world’s top-ranked team and the tournament favorite, in the quarterfinals in Munich.

In the semifinals on Tuesday, Spain traded punches with the Italians through regulation and two extra-time periods before falling in a penalty-kick shootout.

Tell me something to say so I can sound smart.

“Can you believe that England hadn’t allowed a goal in the entire tournament until the semifinals, a streak of more than 720 minutes without conceding for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford? That broke a record that had stood since the days of Gordon Banks. Gordon Banks!”

“Italy is unbeaten in their last 33 matches in all competitions (27-0-6), its longest such streak ever.”

Are the starting lineups set?

The starting lineups won’t be official until an hour before kickoff, but don’t expect the managers, England’s Gareth Southgate and Italy’s Roberto Mancini, to mess with what’s worked so far.

Here are some projected teams if the coaches, as expected, leave well enough alone:

England: Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips; Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling; Harry Kane.

Italy: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Emerson Palmieri; Nicolò Barella, Jorginho, Marco Verratti; Federico Chiesa, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne.

Wasn’t there another big final this weekend?

Yes. That was the Copa América, the South American championship. Argentina beat Brazil, 1-0, in the final on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, delivering the first senior title of Lionel Messi’s glittering career. Read more about that match here.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
FIFA’s Retreat Leaves a Larger Question Over Who Guards the Game
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
Over 24 Hours in the Air: Qantas Airbus Completes Record-Breaking Test Flight
Arrest Warrant Issued in Lebanon for Tycoon Spotted Meeting Netanyahu in Washington
Trump says Israel ‘would not survive’ without US
Nvidia Reportedly Takes Vast Texas Data-Centre Lease to Underwrite AI Expansion
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Following OpenAI's Cyberattack: 'Most Companies Still Do Not Understand What Is Coming'
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Pentagon Discloses Nearly 100 US Troop Injuries During Renewed Iran Fighting
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
Leadership Change and Strategic Rivalry Redraw the Political Map
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Britain Nationalises British Steel to Protect Scunthorpe Production and Strategic Supply
Thomas Tuchel Faces Fierce Backlash After Tactical Retreat Costs England World Cup Final Berth
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
Harvard Astrophysicist to Lead U.S. Scientific Advisory on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Emergency Sirens Activated Across Bahrain as Interior Ministry Issues Shelter Directives
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Netflix Weighs Always-On Channels, Bundles and Short-Form Video
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
×