COME on England.

That is the cry from football fans across the south who are urging Roy Hodgson’s team to do something which hasn’t been done for nearly 20 years – win a quarter-final in a major tournament.

Supporters are making preparations to watch the Euro 2012 clash with Italy this evening at home, with friends or in pubs and bars across Hampshire.

For many England fans, today's match is about daring to believe years of disappointment can be reversed by a breakthrough to the semi-finals.

The last time the Three Lions tasted quarter-final victory was against Spain in the Euro 1996 tournament.

Tonight will certainly be a night of ecstatic joy – or crushing disappointment – whichever side you are rooting for.

At one of Southampton’s best-known Italian restaurants, La Margherita, on Town Quay, staff are dead sure on the outcome.

Waiter Cornento Bono, 41, said: “Italy will be the winner. I think we do have a team which is strong and they will win the whole cup.”

Colleague Andrea Jentile, 26, originally from Sicily, struck a more cautious note.

He told the Daily Echo: “It will be a very balanced match but Italy will win because we have players who have more experience on an international level.”

For waiter Marco Properzi, 22, there was a time when his nation’s boys would fear defeat at the hands of England, but now there is one good reason why he thinks it will be a 2-0 victory for the Azzuri.

He said: “Without Fabio Capello, they will lose everything.”

England fan Chris Hull, 32, a civil servant from Hedge End, who was enjoying a drink in at the restaurant offered a dose of Anglo Saxon caution.

He said: “It will be a close game and Italy might scrape a 1-0. But we might get a 1-0 too.”