The UEFA Euro 2020 final was a football match between England and Italy that took place at Wembley Stadium (pictured) in London, England, on 11 July 2021 to determine the winner of UEFA Euro 2020, which had been delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy won their second European Championship, beating first-time finalists England 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw after extra time. England's Luke Shaw opened the scoring in the second minute of the match, the fastest goal ever scored in a European Championship final, only for Leonardo Bonucci – who was later named the man of the match – to equalise midway through the second half. England had a 2–1 advantage in the shoot-out after two kicks each, but Italy came back to win. The event was marred by crowd disorder and incidents of violence; the English Football Association was punished by UEFA. Racial abuse on social media directed at England's final three, unsuccessful, penalty takers led to a police investigation.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_final

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1493:

Christopher Columbus wrote a letter widely distributed upon his return to Portugal that announced the results of his first voyage to the Americas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus%27s_letter_on_the_first_voyage

1900:

Second Boer War: British cavalry led by John French defeated Boer forces to end a 124-day siege of Kimberley in present-day South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kimberley

1942:

Second World War: Japanese forces led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita captured Singapore with the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Singapore

2013:

A previously undetected meteor exploded (video featured) over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia; the resulting shock wave injured about 1,500 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

a day after the fair: Too late. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_day_after_the_fair

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It always seems to me extreme rashness on the part of some when they want to make human abilities the measure of what nature can do. On the contrary, there is not a single effect in nature, even the least that exists, such that the most ingenious theorists can arrive at a complete understanding of it. This vain presumption of understanding everything can have no other basis than never understanding anything. For anyone who had experienced just once the perfect understanding of one single thing, and had truly tasted how knowledge is accomplished, would recognize that of the infinity of other truths he understands nothing.   --Galileo Galilei https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei