Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 21, 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

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
China’s Lifelike AI Humans Move From Livestreams Into Real-World Service Roles
Sarah Ferguson Reportedly Retreats to Late Ex-Boyfriend's Swiss Chalet
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Sign Prenup Protecting Their Separate Fortunes
Thieves Steal Antonello da Messina Renaissance Masterpieces From Sicilian Museum
Better.com Founder Who Fired 900 Employees on Zoom Is Ousted as CEO
Italian Speed Camera Issues Nearly 32,000 Fines in 10 Weeks, Worth More Than €3 Million
AI Manager at San Francisco Store Recommends Firing Human Employee
Google Launches Pixel 11 With Gemini AI at the Center of Its Hardware Strategy
Reform UK Unveils Plan to Cut Welfare Spending by More Than £50 Billion a Year
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Praised Extinction Rebellion for Doing a 'Great Service'
UK Wildfire Phone Alert Triggers Backlash as Users Switch Off Emergency Warnings
Heathrow Roads Reopen After Burst Water Main Floods Access to Terminals 2 and 3
Former NBA Players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White Say They Will Enter 2027 WNBA Draft
Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday Found Dead Days After Resigning Amid Plagiarism Row
US Appeals Court Rules AI Agent's Website Actions Are Legally Attributed to the User
France's Constitutional Council Blocks Social Media Ban for Children Under 15
Liechtenstein Changes Royal Succession Rules to Allow Women to Inherit the Throne
Women Allege Rape and Sexual Abuse at British Army College for Teenage Recruits
Minnesota: Two independent investigators posed as Muslims (one wearing a burqa) and showed how they could vote in elections without identification.
China’s Kimi Launches AI-Focused Credit Card With Agricultural Bank of China and American Express
Former Labour Adviser Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for China Held Privileged Access as Top Party Donor
Turkish Parliament Passes Landmark Bill Granting Conditional Amnesty to Disarmed PKK Members
Donald Trump Warns FIFA Against Ousting Gianni Infantino Amid Revolt by Global Football Leaders
Jeff Bezos Joins Investor Group Closing In on $6 Billion Liverpool FC Stake
UK Councils to Receive Sweeping Planning Powers to Ban New Vape and Betting Shops
Russia’s A7 Builds a State-Linked Payments Network Beyond Western Sanctions
Hyper-Realistic Reborn Dolls Draw Collectors Seeking Comfort and Craft
Gen Z Cuts Back on Dating as a Night Out Nears $200
Patients Turn to Artificial Intelligence for Therapy as Psychiatrists Warn of Privacy and Clinical Risks
Couples Embrace ‘Sleep Divorce’ to Protect Rest and Reduce Tension
Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million and Change Facebook and Instagram Safeguards for Children
Up to only 10 Months in Prison for Swedish Officer’s Murderer Sparks Anger
Success: Nvidia Turned Gaming Chips Into the Engine of the AI Boom
Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi’s Father and Longtime Agent, Dies at 68
AI’s Next Bottleneck Is Power, Not Just Nvidia Chips
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
×