What Went Wrong for England?
Sorry for the late post everybody, but this is the blog I know all of you have been waiting for. What did England do wrong? Lets take a closer look at how England managed to butcher a chance to win their first international trophy in over 55 years.
With just two minutes having gone by since the start of the game, Kieran Trippier crosses a beauty into the path of Luke Shaw who drills it past Donnaruma's near post and England had the lead. England seemed to be in command of the game in the first half and it was evident Italy needed to change something in the second half in order to get the equalizing goal. In the second half, Mancini made the necessary changes and England looked to be in a very vulnerable state. Italy pressed high up the field and England could not break the press. To make matter worse, England began to sit back behind the ball and try to hold on to their lead rather than put some pressure on the Italian defense and maybe even score a second goal. Not long after the start of the second half, Bonucci scored from an Italian corner and England looked very demoralized. From then on, England played for penalties, as crazy as that might seem, and were in no position to score. Not too many chances were created in overtime and the game went into penalties and this is where England truly screwed up their chances.
On Italy's second penalty kick, Pickford saved and Harry Maguire followed up the save with an emphatic penalty. Italy scored their third and Rashford came up to take England's third penalty. He put that penalty wide brought the penalty shootout back to parity. Italy made their fourth penalty and Jadon Sancho stepped up to take England's fourth. He missed and Jorginho was in prime position to win the game. Pickford made an incredible save and the youngster, Bukayo Saka, stepped up to potentially tie the game. He missed his penalty and Italy won the Euros. Rashford and Sancho were both subbed on late in extra time and did not even get a kick in before the penalty shootout. It would have made sense if someone like Grealish or Sterling, who were fully warmed up, took the penalty. To make matters worse, you cannot ask a 19 year old to take the biggest penalty of the match. It is just not fair on him. England at one stage were in the lead in the shootout and sadly, were not able to capitalize.
Overall, Southgate should have decided to play more attacking football in the second half instead of sitting on the one goal lead and praying Italy does not break through the defense. In the shootout, more experienced and warmed up players should have stepped up to take those crucial 3rd, 4th, and 5th penalties. Even though England lost, they have a very young squad and will be one of the favorites for the 2022 World Cup. It will come home everyone... just not today