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Italy have produced an incredible tournament, which has resulted in a second victory of the European championships in the nation’s history and a fairly remarkable turnaround in form in the last few years. Let’s just go back to 2018 for example and the World Cup, where they failed to qualify for the competition in Russia. This was a huge shock to the footballing world for a side as accomplished as Italy, but it was the result of a continued decline in form, with major changes needing to be made and made they certainly have. Since this incredibly difficult result to take for Italy and having to watch the rest of the biggest sides across the world taking each over on in Russia, they have returned in remarkable form and have continued to deliver on the pitch. This has meant they have now gone three years without defeat, with 34 games in total and are now just one game away from equalling the all-time record set for most international games unbeaten and this is following their unbeaten run at the recent European championships, which was capped off with the trophy. This was also backed by supporters using some usa casinos for uk players, with their odds shortening throughout the successful tournament.
It is a remarkable change of form from failing to qualify for a major tournament to winning the next and it is one that other sides will be looking to emulate, and it shows that major changes can be made in a short period of time. Italy will now be looking to maintain this run with an ageing squad in areas such as the defence, so they will have a big target to win the World Cup but will also have a large target on their back, following the recent European championships success. As mentioned, they went the entire tournament without defeat and have also continued to come in for support in the betting markets for the World Cup victory, with their odds shortening.
Italy again showed not only how good they are at defending but their will to win and why they are so hard to beat. This was proved with two consecutive penalty shoot-out victories in both the semi-final and final. Firstly, against Spain, despite clearly not being the better side and then of course to England in the final. The big question is now whether this can be maintained and firstly whether they can surpass the international unbeaten games record and then look to further success at the World Cup next year in Qatar.
