Wot a nailbiter!!
I dont know about you guys but the stress levels were mounting in Boland Towers...and that was even before the penalties started!
As suggested in my earlier post where I said Pirlo would dominate the game..well so he did..he strolled around the park in easy amble style unchallenged and ran proceedings at a casual pace which suited the Italians very well. This geezer has been around a long long time, I am sure I remember him playing even before I moved here to Dover and thats going back a bit. But he gave a midfield display of mastery and has the coolest disposition of any player I've ever seen. Look at the way he strolled his penalty into the net despite the incredible tension. Unbeliveable..the guys on TV will be showing that one for a long time to come.
England tried the current strategy as adopted by Chelsea in recent times of 'parking the bus' and basically thats what they did for most of the time. All eleven players behind the ball and hardly venturing out of their own penalty area..but just relying on quick breaks. It worked for Chelsea who defeated far better teams than themselves..but not this time. Even though the Italians dominated the game, it still balanced on a knife edge at the end of 90 minutes.
Extra time kicked in then and the tired players carried on..England looking the more tired of the two outfits, but despite efforts and despite the Italians having the ball in the net at the dying moments, it all went to penalties. England led with the penalties early on, but several misses later and Italian arms were raised in jubilation as they levelled and then won through.
The Italians though were the better of the two teams and justice was done. The Germans would have preferred England to go through as Klinsman knew, as he said on TV, they were the weaker of the two sides on show last night. Germany of course is the next opponent awaiting the winner here..
But it was a good run for England...and the World Cup isn't all that far away.