This was the night that Joanne and I were on different sides. Joanne was rooting for Italy while I was supporting Spain. The goals were scored and no particular key highlights of the game but a spectacular ending. Both teams did not play their best football especially Italy who look to be missing Pirlo's free ranging passes in the middle of the park. The bonus was that Italy were solid at the back. Even if their defensive 4 was beaten, there was still the ever reliable Buffon. Spain played a great deal of attacking football but just could not break the Italian defence. One player in particular should have scored at least a goal in the entire match, David Silva. The Valencia left winger was playing on the right side instead against the Italians. He was causing problems for Grosso and even Buffon who made a few saves from him. Luca Toni, one of the players to watch in this tournament was largely disappointing. He only had a handful of touches in the match and created only one scoring opportunity for his team, only to be saved by Casillas. The one Italian player that impressed me was defender Giorgio Chiellini. He was winning all the aerial challenges and heading away the Spanish attack out of the goal area. After 120min of football, both teams finished goalless and headed to penalties. Italy would have a psychological advantage after winning the World Cup through penalties. On the hand, Spain have lost all of their last 3 penalty shootouts in major tournaments.
Up came the first penalty taker, the tournament top scorer, David Villa. He sent Buffon to the wrong way. 1-0 Spain. Grosso who scored the World Cup winning penalty had no problems putting the ball into the net. 1-1. The next kicker for Spain was a surprise inclusion in the squad, Cazorla. He too sent Buffon to the wrong side. 2-1. The man who had missed a penalty against Man Utd in the champions league this season, De Rossi stepped up. No luck again as Casillas saved his kick. 2-1 it remained. Spain's 3rd kicker Senna scored and extend Spain's lead. 3-1. Italian midfielder Camoranesi cooly scored his penalty. 3-2. Buffon then gave Italy a lifeline by saving La Liga Pichichi Guiza's penalty. 3-2. Di Natale had to score to put the pressure on Spain but Casillas saved it once again. 3-2. The kick to win it fell to Fabregas who had a great season with Arsenal. With his club manager watching from the stands, he slotted the ball into the bottom right corner and send Spain into the semi-finals. So Spain will face group stage opponents Russia in the semi-finals next.
benj
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