England will be bidding to end 55 years of hurt on Sunday (3 p.m. ET) when they take on Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium.
The Three Lions haven’t won a major football tournament since 1966 and they are + 162 to end that drought with a win on Sunday in 90 minutes. They are also -120 to lift the trophy by any method (90 minutes, extra time, penalties).
This looks a genuine 50/50 matchup and we know that the English have the home-field advantage but on the evidence from what we have seen in this tournament, it’s the Italians who have been arguably the more impressive side.
Gareth Southgate’s men looked nervous in their semifinal win over Denmark and they will have to raise their game -- something they are more than capable of -- if they are to win this match on Sunday.
England only played well on Wednesday when they had to chase an equalizer and they cancelled out Mikkel Damsgaard’s goal within 10 minutes of the Danes taking the lead, once the English opened the game up.
Southgate will not ditch his tactics in this match, a system which has been successful rather than entertaining at Euro 2020, and I just can’t see how the English can win by trying to do a typical Italian job on the Italians.
England will not risk anything in this match until they have to, as the fear of losing rather than the desire to win is the main priority for Southgate.
The Italians will also be very nervous after the disappointment of failing to make the World Cup finals three years ago in Russia. I believe that they will pay the English the upmost respect and after a 33-match unbeaten run, they will certainly have their supporters at + 200 to win in 90 minutes and at evens to lift the trophy.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this match go the distance and I will not be having a bet on any of the 90-minute or tournament winner markets, but there are two bets that interest me.
The first is the -110 on the final to be a draw at halftime, as four of the last six European Championship finals have ended in draws at half-time and this is the closest final of those in the betting markets.
I also like under 2 goals in the match on the Asian line at -110. That way, the wager is a push if there are only two goals scored in what I am expecting to be a low-scoring final.