England v Italy: Inspirational England help heal national sporting psyche before historic final
By BBC sports editor Dan Roan& Alistair Magowan
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For all the sporting success England has enjoyed over the past 20 years, its men s football team remains the one which, for most people, determines the sporting identity of the nation.
Over the past two decades there have been memorable and long-awaited World Cup wins for England teams in rugby union and cricket, and the country has, of course, played a major part in Britain s emergence as an Olympic and Paralympic superpower.
Yet, until recently, the football team had proved stubbornly unable to follow suit. An outlier.
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