England - Italy: who will be the next champions?
England plays against Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley stadium on Sunday. Bookmakers are tipping England as favourite - if only by a hair's breadth, and perhaps because they are playing at home. But journalists from Italy and Hungary are convinced that the squadra azzura will triumph.
The better losers could win
England is under a lot of pressure, Corriere della Sera smirks:
“We Italians think we can lose. The English think they have to win. This is why we often do so much better than them. Our attitude is a mixture of prudence, experience and superstition. Theirs is a combination of pride, recklessness and impatience. Since the World Championship in 1966 England has not once won a European or World Championship: in fifty-five years. ... The three lions - the name comes from the wild cats on their coat-of-arms - feel crushed under the weight of a powerful collective illusion. It is not easy to play under such conditions; also because in English football fierce enthusiasm soon tips into fierce disappointment.”
Football and Draghi: the new glue
Social cohesion is getting a double boost in Italy right now, observes Népszava: "[The national team] has restored the Italians' self-confidence after national unity was almost obliterated in the headwinds of populism. ... But Mario Draghi has contributed at least as much to this reawakened confidence. ... The head of government has restored the country to the international stage. ... He also has domestic politics well under control. He has created stable conditions in a situation that looked hopeless.