WilliamMunny
Well-known member
Is obviously very impressive at any level and I'm not for one second suggesting they will not be formidable opposition on Sunday. Yet perhaps it's not all it is cracked up to be.
Prior to this tournament, they were unbeaten in 27 games since losing to Portugal in the Nations League in 2018. After that game, they drew the reverse fixture at home 0-0, had 1-0 wins over Poland and USA and drew with Ukraine.
In 2019, they won all 10 Euro 2020 qualifying games, albeit in a weak group consisting of Greece, Bosnia and Herz, Finland, Liechtenstein and Armenia.
Arguably their 2020 results are more impressive, remaining unbeaten in the Nations League against Netherlands, Poland and Bosnia (again), beating each team once and drawing with each once. They also had a couple of facile friendly wins over Moldova and Estonia.
Ahead of Euro 2020, they won 2-0 against NI, Bulgaria and Lithuania, before pre-tournament friendly wins over San Marino and Czech Republic.
Easily their most impressive results of this 33 game unbeaten run are in this tournament against the Swiss, Belgium and Spain. In the previous 27 games unbeaten, only 3 were against supposed premium opposition (Portugal and Netherlands) and they drew 2 of those.
What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing really! Sunday's match is finely poised between two outstanding teams and could go either way. Rub of the green in key moments could well decide who lifts the trophy. But as I keep hearing about 33 games unbeaten, I decided to have a closer look at this run and thought I would post my findings. England should definitely respect Italy, but I see no reason to be intimidated by the unbeaten run.
Prior to this tournament, they were unbeaten in 27 games since losing to Portugal in the Nations League in 2018. After that game, they drew the reverse fixture at home 0-0, had 1-0 wins over Poland and USA and drew with Ukraine.
In 2019, they won all 10 Euro 2020 qualifying games, albeit in a weak group consisting of Greece, Bosnia and Herz, Finland, Liechtenstein and Armenia.
Arguably their 2020 results are more impressive, remaining unbeaten in the Nations League against Netherlands, Poland and Bosnia (again), beating each team once and drawing with each once. They also had a couple of facile friendly wins over Moldova and Estonia.
Ahead of Euro 2020, they won 2-0 against NI, Bulgaria and Lithuania, before pre-tournament friendly wins over San Marino and Czech Republic.
Easily their most impressive results of this 33 game unbeaten run are in this tournament against the Swiss, Belgium and Spain. In the previous 27 games unbeaten, only 3 were against supposed premium opposition (Portugal and Netherlands) and they drew 2 of those.
What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing really! Sunday's match is finely poised between two outstanding teams and could go either way. Rub of the green in key moments could well decide who lifts the trophy. But as I keep hearing about 33 games unbeaten, I decided to have a closer look at this run and thought I would post my findings. England should definitely respect Italy, but I see no reason to be intimidated by the unbeaten run.