Bedford (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Were it not for the grey skies and threat of rain as they sip espressos and talk football outside La Piazza Caffè, Luciano Lambiase and his friends could be in Naples or Rome.
But the retired factory engineer, 66, and his boyhood friends Pasquale Spadaccino and Franco Bulzis, both 73, are discussing the upcoming Euro 2020 final in the southern English town of Bedford, home to one of the country’s largest Italian communities.
“It’s coming home to Rome,” Lambiase told AFP, predicting that his national team would beat England in the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship final at Wembley on Sunday.