Jason Davies and Mara Inama after Italy won. Photo / George Novak
"Everything".
That is what winning the Euro 2020 final means to Italian Mara Inama.
The Tauranga hairstylist was the only Italian-born fan inside the packed Crown and Badger pub.
There was standing room only inside the Tauranga pub as Italy won the European Championship for the second time by beating England 3-2 on penalties.
Most of the large crowd cheered, clapped and chanted: "It's coming home" when England scored each penalty after extra time.
But it was Inama who got to fly her Italian flag when the final penalty was scored.
"I'm shaking. It was so well deserved. I am so happy. It is such a beautiful feeling."
Inama said they had to cheer a little louder as they were the only Italian fans in the entire pub.
"There is not enough Italian fans in Tauranga."
She said her partner Adrian Tomasi woke at 5am ahead of the game.
"He was so excited, but he had to go to work."
Inama was accompanied by her bosses Penelope and Jason Davies who had booked a table earlier in the week to secure their seat.
"We set the alarm early this morning," Jason Davies said. "We didn't want to miss this."
He said he was "pretty confident" Italy was going to win and was trying to keep positive throughout the game.
"They were just warming up in the first half," he said. "They played way better in the second half."
Davies said it was nerve-wracking watching the game "go back and forth" right to the end.
"It could have gone either way."
The pub, full of English fans, fell silent and quickly emptied when Italy won.
An English fan, who wished only to be known as Chris, said he felt "terrible" that England lost.
"It's a horrible way to go by penalties. But at least we made it to the final."
Dressed in a red and white wig, Chris said he and his son Sol, 6, and wife Jungeun had lined up outside the Crown and Badger at 6.30am to get a seat.
Chris plays football for Ōtūmoetai and also coaches his son's football team. He has also coached in Auckland for six years before moving to Tauranga.
Chris said they were watching 55 years of history in the making and it was "about time" England brought home the trophy.
He said he saw England play in the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil and had the flag he bought at that game wrapped over his shoulders.
If England had won, he said he would have booked a ticket to Qatar next year for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
The team were playing well in the first half of the game, he said.
"It's a very young English side and a different team to what most fans are used to."
Commenting on England's early goal, Chris said 1-to-nil is "how we do it". He bet it would be like that until the "90th minute".
"That's typical of England," he said. "I think they do this on purpose just to keep the supporters on edge."
The player of the day for Chris "without a doubt" was Luke Shaw, who scored England's first goal.
Chris' friend Adrian Toft said "it was amazing" to be watching England in the Euro 2020 final.
Toft remembered coach Gareth Southgate, who missed a penalty shootout in the Euro 1996 against Germany, which cost England the game.
"This could have been the game that brings England back," he said.
Crown and Badger owner Jessica Rafferty said the pub was fully booked out a couple of days ago and people were lining outside the pub at 6.30am.
"People are just finding any spare spot they can."
"It's awesome. I love the morning events that everyone gets behind."
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