For one glorious Sunday afternoon, Newark's North Ward was all Italian-American again as more than 1,000 people blocked Bloomfield Avenue to watch Italy narrowly defeat England in the 2020 European Championship football final. The avenue between North 11th Street and North 13th Street was shut down for the globally-watched match.

A force of ecstatic fans wearing the blue of the Italian national team watched the Forza Azzurri squeak past the English team, winning on penalty kicks 3-2 before an emotionally shattered crowd in London. The championship cup, awarded a year later than scheduled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, would not be not coming home to England, the birthplace of what Americans call soccer.