I wasn't able to really follow the match, only snippets between the GIGASCREEN and the television in the kitchen (but this time we had the volume of the GIGASCREEN up: yesterday no one was here to make conversation).
My first thought was "Come on Italy! Let's score immediately and then just keep up the pressure!" That got old
very fast, but truth was that England was the better team during the first half. It didn't matter if they scored on the 1' or the 45'. Italy was really underperforming. We lacked our clean structure of ball control and precise passages. I was not optimistic.
Then things started to change. Italy grew and England looked if they were playing for time. Both teams weren't at their best: Italy finally controlled the ball and the game but they lacked their usual spunky sudden shoots that so much good did in the previous matches. England was scarier on the attack, but they seldom did try.
And then England just sat there, with still '30 minutes to go. I don't know what happened. Kane disappeared in a "poof!" Italy finally brought out their dominating style and the equaliser was only a question of time. Sadly, during what possibly was our best moment in the match, Chiesa got injured. This deprived us of a key offensive player and destroyed the momentum.
I feel that Italy was the better team in the tired extra time. We had marginally more fuel than England and created a couple of clear goal occasions. As usual, I hoped for no penalty shootout but there we went and Italy won. In all fairness, the result of the shootout went to the deserving ones: the dudes who booed during the Italian national anthem. [:'(]
[As an aside, I read that the three black players that missed their penalties are being targeted by racist abuse [:-] What is wrong with these guys?]
England was really scary for one half of the game and Kane was the best player on the pitch - for a while. Then Italy rallied, England sputtered and, at the end, I feel that we could have won without the shootout. Penalties are a coin toss that just leaves players unjustly broken and depressed (even if Donnarumma's saves were really something).
It is funny to see the pundits explaining in painstakingly details England's errors when, had two penalties gone the other way, it would be Mancini the one on the cross.
What followed was a wonderful night for a country that needed it after a very dark period. As our beloved President Pertini said back in 1982, after Italy's victory at the World Cup: "Every week must have a Sunday!" [:)]
Side note 1: For those wondering why Mancini and Vialli embraced each other and started to cry, they, as team mates playing for Sampdoria, lost the European Cup to Barcelona on this very pitch in 1992. 29 years later they won.
Side note 2: the scores for Sterling's dives are in.
FRA GER SPA POR DEN RUS
1st Dive: 7.5 7.7 6.9 6.5 7.8 7.0
2nd Dive: 8.1 7.8 6.9 7.3 7.9 7.8
3rd Dive: 6.4 6.5 6.0 6.9 6.1 5.9
Thanks Azzurri! 
"Yes darling, I served in the Navy for eight years. I was a cook..."
"Oh dad... so you were a God-damned cook?"
(My 10 years old daughter after watching "The Hunt for Red October")
; Julia Child
