Photo Emanuele Giaccherini of Italy, top, colliding with Eden Hazard of Belgium at their European Championships match in Lyon, France. Italy won, 2-0. Credit Cj Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency LONDON — Did Italy fool everyone, even themselves, about how prepared they were for the European Championships? Italy Coach Antonio Conte had spoken for months about his…

Photo The Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, formerly of Paris St.-Germain. Credit Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images PARIS — Last week, the international soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, captain of the Swedish national team, scheduled a news conference in Paris at precisely 5 p.m., three days before the start of the European Championship in France. Speculation…

So Zambrano took Osorio on the MetroStars’ preseason tour of Spain and Portugal to evaluate him. “The players took an immediate liking to him because of his preparation for every session and his individual care for each one of them,” said Zambrano, now the director of youth development for Club Deportivo El Nacional in Ecuador.…