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Euro 2020: England loses to Italy, but it's memes and jokes for the win

It's not coming home, it's going to Rome, as you can see on little Prince George's face.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read

It's not coming home. England battled Italy in the Euro final on Sunday night at London's Wembley Stadium and lost in a pressure-filled penalty-kick showdown. As Italian fans danced and celebrated, English fans had to go back to dreaming.

Those fans included Prince William, wife Kate and son, George. They were in attendance and had hoped the victory was "coming home," playing off the chorus of the England tribute song, Three Lions (It's Coming Home), by English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and the band The Lightning Seeds, which marked England's hosting of Euro 1996.

It's coming to Rome

But instead of coming home, the win is coming to Rome, as Italian fans were quick to note on social media. Even Italian player Leonardo Bonucci got in the "coming to Rome" taunt.

Poor England

The loss means England will continue on for at least awhile in its pop-culture role as an eternal underdog, one of the globe's most cursed programs, apparently. And don't think non-fans didn't remind them.

"Honestly the best part of Italy's win was that shot of the royal family looking sad," tweeted Kristin Chirico.

Mario and the pizza

Two Italian fans caught viewers' eyes with their costumes--she's dressed as a slice of pizza, while he's SuperMario. They were probably happy after the penalty kicks, but the cameras caught them in an uncertain moment many people rushed to caption and joke about.

"You're still going to dress as a pizza, right?" joked one Twitter user. "What do you mean? We talked about this weeks ago!"

Said another, "Italy's had all the momentum since they showed Pizza Girl and Super Mario Boyfriend."

Royal disappointment

Many viewers were entertained by young Prince George's reactions, mainly to England's goal and then later to the team's loss. The future king of England, who's just 7 now, might want to get used to disappointing England matches.

"Prince George is perhaps every England football fan right now - from sheer ecstasy of Luke Shaw goal to heartbreak of watching Rashford, Sancho and Saka miss penalties!" wrote one Twitter user. "Football will come home, not today but someday! Congratulations Italy."

For England fans -- well, there's always the next World Cup, which will be held in Qatar in the fall of 2022 to avoid the intense heat of the Middle Eastern country.