The ultimate finale of EURO CUP 2021 has only been concluded recently. The decider of the tournament organized by the Union Of European Football Associations eventually came down to a showdown between two top-notch teams- England and Italy. The affair itself was very close and saw both the teams scoring one goal apiece at full-time. While L. Shaw scored one goal for the English team, the Italians equalized on the back of Bonucci’s strike. According to the rules; Since the knockout game ended in a draw, two new halves of 15 minutes were further given, but to no avail. It all came down to a penalty shootout which was won 3-2 by Italy, who also won the trophy as a result.
While the football fans were satisfied with the edge-of-the-seat thriller, kiwi allrounder James Neesham also decided to tweet his thoughts on the same.
Neesham takes a funny dig at ICC:
Neesham’s humor is next to none and it’s a well-known fact. But what he had to say this time also had some logic to it. Across the game, the Italians made 820 passes whereas England had only 426 passes against their name and the winner was eventually crowned based on a penalty shootout. Comparing it to New Zealand’s final encounter in the 2019 World Cup, here’s what he had to say:
Why is it a penalty shootout and not just whoever made the most passes wins? 👀 #joking 😂
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) July 11, 2021
2019 Cricket World Cup Controversy:
NZ won the toss and forced England to bowl first. Nicholls’ fighting fifty and Tom Latham’s counter-attacking 47 took them to a decent total of 241 for the loss of 8 wickets. In reply, England’s start was meek and they crumbled under pressure. The top four batters fell for just 86 runs and took more than 23 overs for it. But Stoke’s iconic 80 odd and Butler’s 59 kept the match alive and the scores were level by the time both innings concluded. The match was taken to a super over which resulted in a tie as well.
Interestingly, Neesham was also an integral part of the match, smacking a six off Jofra Archer in the super over and getting 3 wickets across the match. Since the scores were level even after the super over, Eoin Morgan-led English squad were crowned as the champions based on the boundary count. This decision drew a lot of criticism from cricket fans all over the world. In the tweet attached above, Jimmy was trying to compare this very decision with England’s situation in the EURO CUP FINALE, telling how they could’ve used passes as a criterion to declare Italy as the winner even before the penalty shootout. Valid point or nah? Share your opinion in the comments down below!
