Holy shit! Pirlo!
LOL. I’ve always wanted to see a PK like that.
Well at least justice has been done this time…
First decision by penalties of the tournament. I am pleasantly surprised that there has been only one so far.
Sorry England. I must say that I would have liked to see a Germany-England semifinal!
Hard lines there - England did well to take it that far. Good job by Roy IMHO, couldn’t have asked for much more with what he had to work with.
Italy looked effective at controlling play - Germany will be a different story but I think they will contest things.
Would have been a grave injustice if England had gone through. Italy were better throughout the game and deserved the win. Well done to them. We’re obdurate but little more. Can’t help but feel a side with a bit more about them would have put two or three away tonight. Italy were very wasteful. They’ll need to take their chances better than tonight, if they are to beat Germany. Good luck to them though.
Yeah I don’t think there is any question that Italy was the better team in this game though they will have to improve their finishing to have any chance against Germany.
Incidentally it would be rather amusing if Germany ends up beating Greece, Italy and Portugal/Spain, each of them part of the infamous PIGS club of European deadbeats, with Merkel cheering in the stands all the way.
Not having a rooting interest in the game, I was happy to see the team I thought played better for 2 hours win in the end.
Then make the depth of your team matter more than penalty kicks. My very limited understanding is that the substitution rules are quite stringent, but it seems to me that the game would be better served if you had more substitutes and let the team with better depth win playing soccer rather than penalty kicks.
Although I must admit penalty kicks have a huge amount of tension with each kick, which is damn exciting. Maybe I should check out that thread Maserschmidt linked…
For the neutrals, probably the best result…England would have had to play similarly against all other sides left in the tournament; Italy-Germany has the chance to be a great game.
Still, I feel for all England fans. Hard way to be kicked out (although losing all group games isn’t everything either); Pirlo man of the match!
He should have just plucked out a cigar, and lit it, after that. Fair play to England - that was a par performance - but there are better teams in this competition, Italy being one of them.
If you have more substitutions then you’re trading tactics of the regular game for something that only happens in tournaments. I suppose they could allow more subs only at extra time? Hmm.
Hamlet, is this your first foray into soccer? Thoughts?
I would like to think that Pirlo had noted that for the first two penalties, Joe Hart had really flung himself into the corners, he was really launching himself. Thus he could have been confident that Hart would again pick a side and leap.
It makes a sweet penalty even sweeter to think that he wasn’t just taking a chance, but exploiting the keepers actions.
Definitely the least tense I’ve been during a penalty shootout involving England. After the first half there was a gulf in quality between the two sides, can’t complain. Even if we had snuck through somehow, playing Germany after a two hour match would have been grim.
Classy penalty from Pirlo, to cap a classy performance.
I’m not downcast. As I said at the start of the tournament to lose a quarter-final on penalties is a bit of a result for us.
Not first, but very rarely. Every 4 years I kinda/sorta get into the World Cup. I have three girls, a couple who play, so, as a family, we really got into the Women’s World Cup in 2011. But I don’t think I’ve watched more than a few games all the way through even then.
But we’re in Spain for this part of the summer, and, with Spain doing so well, it’s a massive event. Every game, even the non-Spain games, are draws at our local restaurants/bars/tapas places, and I’ve seen more soccer this last few weeks than I have in my entire life.
My thoughts? It’s like a lot of sports, when it’s good, it’s amazing fun, but when it’s not, it’s painful. I think it’s flawed as a sport (there are just too few scoring opportunities for as much time is spent playing it) and there are things I hate (the constant “oh my god I just broke my leg… Wait, I’m alright now!!” flopping. I say they should eject/take out as injured anyone who is on the ground for more than 5 seconds), but there are things that I really like too (some of the goals and saves I’ve seen have been amazing and these guys must be incredible athletes to expend that much energy). And there is really something incredibly cool about the energy and vibe of watching Spain play in a bar in Madrid.
By and large, I’m enjoying it, but I also find myself being not all that engaged for long periods of time because of poor/tired/sloppy play. The France v. Spain game was painful to watch, and even though there were amazing moments in tonights game, I found the latter part of the game to be tedious. Still, I can see why it might be the world’s biggest participant sport, and I’ll be glued to my barstool/television for the rest of the tournament.
Not bad, not bad at all – good overview. Robben’s two breakaways in SA help illustrate what you speak of perfectly. Thing is, you still have to execute right then and there, Iker notwithstanding (tall order), not getting many/any of those in a match vs us. But thank you, very good analysis, break/down.
Even though I made clear I was rooting for England, other than the first 10/15 minutes or so – which turned out to be an illusion – if there was one team playing “catenaccio” twas’ The Lions. In fact, Italy should have won the match in regular time fair & square. And as much as I hate to admit it, I liked the balls they showed today.
Don’t think Germany has it it easy in their semi’s.
Oh well. Screw The Azurri, but congrats at the same time.
I started out indifferent, but after only a few minutes found myself - for the first time in my life - rooting for Italy, since the roles were so clearly reversed. Of course, as a lifelong Germany fan that was a one-time dalliance. 
That’s always been my favorite solution. Allow an extra 3 subs in overtime – added to any you haven’t used already; which could potentially be six altogether. Gives the match much needed vitality. Really don’t see the downside.
All else remains the same.
Neither Italy nor Germany has been finishing well. This semifinal will probably be exciting and utterly maddening.
Of course they won’t have it easy per se, but Pirlo just went 120 minutes and will have 2 less days of rest against a very, very good German midfield. Germany had lots and lots of chances early to put the game away before it even started against Greece. Schweinsteiger is apparently questionable to play on Thursday, but if he does and Chiellini is out again, I’ll guess Germany 2-0 Italy. I think Buffon is going to be a busy man.
Early prediction for Wed: Spain 1-1 Portugal, Portugal win on pens.
Can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Glen Johnson’s point blank shot had gone in at the beginning. Still, the Italians were clearly the better team except during the first 20 minutes.