CIRO IMMOBILE

Pope Francis is hoping that a charity soccer match that includes Swiss Guards, Vatican employees, priests, a player with Down syndrome, migrants and members of the Roma community will deal a significant “kick” to discrimination.

Italy will have to go through the playoffs once again in its bid to reach the World Cup.

It’s a match between teams who have almost forgotten what it feels like to lose.

Manuel Locatelli scored two goals and Italy beat Switzerland 3-0 to advance to the last 16 of the European Championship with a game to spare.

Roberto Mancini has turned Italy around after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the last World Cup.

Italy waited a long time for this European Championship to start and then showed just how eager the team was to play the tournament opener.

Italy will play Turkey in the opening game of the European Championship on Friday.

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)ROME – Three years after an embarrassing failure to qualify for the World Cup, Italy is back in contention with the best in Europe. England, meanwhile, is already out of contention for the Nations League finals with one round of matches still to play. In all, more than 20 Italy players were unavailable due to the virus and injury. Jorginho converted a penalty for Italy midway through the first half after Andrea Belotti was brought down inside the area. WINNING WALESWales is the only unbeaten team in League B following a 1-0 win over Ireland, courtesy of David Brooks’ second-half header.