Big drop-off second half, simply can’t keep hold of the ball. Very lucky Italy haven’t scored.
Germany will be very happy to see this one going to extra time.
extra time, but you are excused due to your enthusiasm!
Really? I’ve seen TO disappear for whole games, including multiple drops. It’s what comes with being a headcase sometimes.
Balotelli’s goal against Ireland in this same tournament was pretty sharp.
That was very polite of England to hold up the ball until the defense was in place.
True, and if the only time I saw TO was in those games that he disappeared, I’d be expressing the same opinion of him. But for all the face time he gets, and all the chances he’s had this game, I should be more impressed. If it’s an off game for him, I completely understand, but it just seems to my untrained eye that his team has given him the chances to be a stud, and he hasn’t. There’s still time though.
Extra extra time!? Double extra time!? Super Extra time!? Extra time Dos!?
An entertaining quote from the BBC Text Commentary:
Extra time is, now, always 2 15 minutes periods. Then penalties.
Classic.
Where is di Natale?
Oh! Offside goal.
Italy finally get the goal, but offside!
Our one advantage right now, if we do get to penalties, is there an Italian forward in the game who hasn’t already missed a great chance?
3 subs already; the last one (Maggio for Abate) seemed to be because of injury, rather than tactics.
I missed one of those, thanks.
This should be interesting.
Gotta go with Buffon, right?
As bad as the finishing has been by both sides, they should give the game to the first team who scores.
Yes.
What is the consensus (if any?) on deciding a two hour game with penalty kicks? I guess I understand it during the “regular season” because you don’t want to subject fans to unending pain, but for huge games like the playoffs, why not play until they’re dropping?
Remember Jens Lehmann and his notepad against Argentina? I’d like to see a keeper come out with a laptop sometime.
They’re often close to dropping anyway. I think the level of play would drop very quickly and perhaps you’d just have each team packing their own box.
In theory of course. Maybe it’d work out better in practice. Each team had 120 minutes to break through, sometimes you have to settle.