one goalkeeper, where the attacker’s task is to score a goal and the goalkeeper must stop that from happening. In my opinion, a penalty shootout is soccer in its simplest form. It doesn’t happen in all soccer matches, but in big cup competitions, if no winner can be decided at the end of normal time (90 minutes) and extra time (an extra 30 minutes), then a penalty shootout is used to decide a winner. The game went into extra time, and in the last moments of the match, the England manager, Gareth Southgate, put me on for the penalty shootout.Ī penalty shootout is a special way to decide a winner if a soccer match ends in a draw. I watched nearly all of that match from the substitute bench, seeing how Italy was getting more of the ball and controlling the pace of the game, until they eventually got a goal back, making the score 1–1. Fans thought we were going to be European Champions.Įngland scored an early goal, but we had some trouble after that-Italy was really good. England was going to win UEFA Euro 2020 and bring the trophy home. That final really felt like it was going to be a special moment for everyone. There were loads of newspaper articles about the England players and the manager, and people even joked that it would be a national holiday the day after if England won.
Everyone across the country was really excited.Īll summer long, fans in England were singing funny, lighthearted songs about how soccer was going to come “home,” back to England, the country that helped invent the sport. Just like in 1966, England was playing in a final at home. Soccer fans had waited fifty-five years for this moment, and to make things even better, the final was being held in Wembley Stadium in London. It was the first time we had made it to the final of an international tournament since the World Cup in 1966. So England playing in a European final was a BIG deal! Everyone learns how to play it at school, and most weekends, thousands and thousands of people go to stadiums around the country to watch their favorite soccer team play. It’s the most popular sport in the country.
(I know, it’s confusing to have a tournament called Euro 2020 in the summer of 2021, but COVID-19 caused a delay on a lot of things!) On July 11, 2021, England faced Italy in the final of UEFA Euro 2020. I WANT TO START THIS BOOK BY TELLING YOU A STORY.
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