all right. so let s widen out the the the focus here and look at the tournament, as a whole. taking place, obviously, in the context of covid. it s it s being largely hailed as a success, i d say, as much for giving the fans or even even people who don t regularly follow soccer, a reason to cheer, again, together. often, in person. it it s importance seems to be a bit larger than the sport, itself, is that fair? absolutely, fair. you know, it kicked off in rome on june the 11th. and that was quite symbolic, in a way, because italy was a country on its knees over the coronavirus crisis, just like england. it had been hit hard over the past 18 months. so, to have the italians and england in the final, after everything that has taken place over the last 18 months, is quite something. it comes readily, of course, after they failed to qualify for
euro final and the first appearance for england s men s team in a major final, since they won the world cup in 1966. well, queen elizabeth was there, 55 years ago, to present the world cup to the national team. she sent this letter congratulating the three lions, as they re known, and wish them luck ahead of today s match. well, cnn world sport s don riddell has a preview of today s showdown at wembley. reporter: a tournament delayed by a year, and then played by 24 teams across 11 different countries will finally be settled on sunday night. when england play italy at wembley stadium in london. these are two countries, who are both craving success after the emotional pain of covid-19 and the lockdown. and on the field, both teams will have something to prove. italy are no strangers to success. this will be a tense-major final for them. a team that won this title back in 1968. and have won the world cup, no less than four times. however, by their own standards, italy have kind of been
they failed to qualify for the 2018 world cup. but they haven t lost a game, in the three years since. translator: we need both attributes tomorrow because you can t survive a final at wembley against england, without a warm heart. and nor, can you do it without a cool heads because there will come times when we need to be a little bit more daring. when we need to go for it. and there will, also, be times when we need to be a bit more cooler, and try to keep the situation under control. reporter: england have ridden a wave of euphoria to the final, playing five of their six games, so far, in london to reach their first-major final, since 1966. that was the year they won the world cup. their only trophy, to date. and their fans dreaming of lifting another trophy, some 55 years later. before is not unimportant because we recognize the contribution other people have made and we re respectful of that.
it throughout the tournament. they will be singing the chorus, it s coming home, again, at wembley on sunday. is the trophy coming home? or is it going to rome? we ll, soon, see. back to you. last hour, i spoke with cnn world sport contributor, darren lewis, about today s big euro final. and i asked him, can england handle the pressure against powerhouse italy after years of failure? here s what he said. yes, they are a squad packed with players. they ve won tournaments at their club, at the highest level of european football. now, they ve got a chance of ending those five and a half decades of hurt for english football by doing so with their clubs. yes, there is pressure. but they ve coped with that pressure superbly to win four of their five matches, so far. and there s huge optimism, as you ve been saying, kim, here in england that it can create the biggest-sporting story, certainly, of my lifetime by making it five wins out of six at wembley, tonight.
the nonprofit, bail project, says it put up the money to have hervis rogers released after bail was set at $100,000. rogers was arrested on wednesday. he spoke to cnn in 2020 about waiting for six hours to vote in the democrat primary. authorities say he also voted in 2018. well, all that would be fine, except texas says rogers was on parole, after burglary charges in the 80s and 90s and that would make his votes illegal, under state law. the american civil liberties union has taken up rogers case. the aclu says laws shouldn t intimidate people from voting, and it ll push back on efforts to restrict voting rights. soccer passions are at fever pitch ahead of the euro 2020 final. we will look at why england and italy, both, have something to prove in today s clash of the titans at wembley. and later, we will give you an update on how pope francis is doing after his surgery last week. stay with us.