The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: england

  • Italy vs England: Italy secures Euro 2020 glory @ Wembley

     

    Italy inflicted more penalty heartache on England to win Sunday’s Euro 2020 final 3-2 in a shoot-out, Bukayo Saka missing the decisive kick to deny the hosts after the game at Wembley had ended in a draining 1-1 draw through extra time.

    Saka’s kick was repelled by Gianluigi Donnarumma to give Italy the Henri Delaunay trophy for the second time at the end of a shoot-out in which England scored their first two penalties but then saw Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho also fail.

     

    Jorginho could have won it for Italy only for his penalty to be saved by Jordan Pickford, giving renewed hope to the England support who had earlier created a febrile atmosphere with their team looking set to run away with this final.

     

    The nerve-shredding climax seemed unlikely given the way the match began, with Luke Shaw scoring for Gareth Southgate’s England after just one minute and 57 seconds, the fastest goal ever in a European Championship final stunning a team who arrived here on a record 33-match unbeaten run.

     

    Italy were shell-shocked and struggled to recover in a stadium where the official attendance was 67,173 but more England fans clearly managed to enter after disgraceful scenes when supporters without tickets stormed the gates.

     

    Serious questions will be asked about security — the game was also briefly held up by a pitch invader late on — but English fans were obviously desperate to see their team finally win a major tournament for the first time since the 1966 World Cup.

    Italy, though, had most of the possession after falling behind and ultimately deserved their equaliser when it came midway through the second half through Leonardo Bonucci.

     

     

     

    With no further scoring, this was the first European Championship final to be decided on penalties since 1976.

     

    It is more penalty agony for England, whose list of previous shoot-out exits included losing to Italy at Euro 2012 as well as in the Euro 96 semi-finals against Germany when Southgate missed the crucial kick.

     

    While their 55-year wait to win another major international title goes on, Italy’s own particular half-century of hurt is over.

     

    The Azzurri have won four World Cups but their sole European Championship triumph before this dated back to 1968.

     

    They had lost two European Championship finals in little over two decades, with the agony of losing to France via a golden goal in Rotterdam in 2000 and then being torn apart by Spain in 2012, going down 4-0 in Kiev.

     

    – Baying crowd –

    Roberto Mancini’s team had an extra day’s rest in between the semi-finals and this final but they appeared completely unprepared for the experience that awaited them in London.

     

    England’s baying supporters created a hostile atmosphere, and that combined with Southgate’s tactical choices seemed to catch the Italians off guard.

     

    England brought back Kieran Trippier in place of Saka in the only change from their semi-final, reverting to a five-man defence.

     

    Within two minutes the choice of system paid dividends as England broke forward, Harry Kane opening the play up to Trippier, who crossed from the right to the far post where the arriving Shaw scored on the half-volley.

     

    Italy, who had not been behind all tournament, were stunned and the only surprise was that England did not try to press home their obvious superiority.

     

    Instead they allowed Mancini’s side to have the ball, confident they could withstand whatever was thrown at them.

     

    – Italian fightback –

    England were rarely seriously troubled in the first half even if Federico Chiesa remained a danger.

     

    It was a rather different story in the second half once Mancini had turned to his bench, notably replacing hapless striker Ciro Immobile and sending on Domenico Berardi.

     

    As the game opened up, Chiesa probed again and forced a save from Pickford, before a John Stones header from Trippier’s corner was tipped over by Donnarumma.

     

     

     

    The equaliser arrived in the 67th minute. Marco Verratti stooped to meet a corner with a header that Pickford tipped onto the post, but Bonucci was on hand to score the rebound and celebrated with the Italy fans massed at that end of Wembley.

     

    Italy then lost the outstanding Chiesa to injury. Lorenzo Insigne did not last into extra time either, and Verratti came off too.

     

    England, meanwhile, sent on Jack Grealish in the hope of a bit of magic, but it would come down to pena lties, and more gut-wrenching disappointment for them.

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com

  • Meghan Markle says Royal Racism pushed her to Contemplate sucide

    Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle on Sunday said she contemplated taking her own life after joining the royal family, and raised allegations of racism in the monarchy during an explosive television interview.

     

    Explaining the couple’s dramatic exit from royal life, Meghan said she was denied help during her mental health crisis, was targeted by lies, and that there was official concern about the skin color of her unborn son.

     

    Meghan, whose father is white and mother is Black, spoke out in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that immediately became one of the most extraordinary chapters in recent royal history and was set to rock the British institution.

     

    “I… just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought,” she told Winfrey, describing the impact of a torrent of vitriol from hostile tabloids and social media.

     

    Asked if she had had suicidal thoughts while pregnant, Meghan replied “Yes. This was very, very clear.”

     

    Recalling how she felt at the time, she said that “I’m scared, because this is very real.”

     

    Meghan, 39, also told of royal “concerns” about “how dark” her son’s skin would be, saying Harry revealed to her official conversations over Archie’s appearance, as well as the security he would be entitled to, ahead of his birth on May 6, 2019.

     

    – ‘How dark his skin might be’ –

     

    “In those months when I was pregnant… we have in tandem the conversation of ‘he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Meghan said.

     

    “That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations the family had with him,” she said.

     

    After the couple’s surprise decision to move to North America, the former television actress has been portrayed in some British newspapers as headstrong, calculating and spoiled, and the couple reckless and selfish for quitting royal life.

     

    The two-hour interview with the queen of US television was the biggest royal tell-all since Harry’s mother princess Diana detailed her crumbling marriage to his father Prince Charles in 1995.

     

    Harry, 36, revealed the deep divisions within his family, saying he felt “really let down” by how his father had handled the situation.

     

    But he also said Charles — the heir to the throne — and Harry’s older brother William were “trapped” by the conventions of the monarchy.

     

    “They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that,” he said.

     

    Winfrey reportedly sold the interview to US broadcaster CBS for $7-9 million, and retained international rights to the footage, which will feed an appetite of interest about Britain’s centuries-old monarchy — and their troubles — across the globe.

     

    Royal fans were offered a treat when the couple revealed the gender of their second child. “It’s a girl!” Harry and Meghan chimed in tandem.

     

    But it was a rare light-hearted moment in the drawn-out interview — and viewers who tuned in to see if the pair had scores to settle with Buckingham Palace were likely left shocked at how far they went.

     

    – Knives out –

     

    Taking aim squarely at senior royals, Markle flatly denied reports — feasted on by the gossip press — that she made Prince William’s wife Kate cry before her wedding to Harry, saying the reality was the opposite.

     

    “Everyone in the institution knew it wasn’t true,” Meghan told Winfrey.

     

    “The reverse happened,” Meghan added, saying that Kate “was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologized.”

     

    “A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining — yes, the issue was correct — about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings.”

     

    Meghan called the claims “the beginning of a real character assassination” and “a turning point” in her relations with the royal family.

     

    “I came to understand that not only was I not being protected but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family,” she said.

     

    Ahead of Sunday’s broadcast, it emerged Meghan was facing an investigation into claims that she bullied royal household staff — a revelation seen as a counter-offensive in a bitter battle for public support.

     

    Last month, when Buckingham Palace confirmed the couple would not return to their senior roles, it said they would not “continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.”

     

    Harry said the pair, who have secured lucrative deals with Netflix and other streaming services, had to find a way to make money as “my family literally cut me off financially.”

     

    “I’m sad that what’s happened has happened, but… we did everything that we could to make it work,” he said as the interview wrapped up.

     

    Afterwards, tennis star Serena Williams hailed her “selfless” friend Meghan and said on Instagram that “her words illustrate the pain and cruelty she’s experienced.”

     

    The Sunday Times reported Queen Elizabeth II, 94, would not be watching the program  and quoted unnamed courtiers as calling the situation a “circus.”

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com