…waiting for a goal, then two come along in the final two minutes; similarities to buses anyone? It would be easy to say that there were no losers in this match, but that would be a pointless thing to say; as I know for a fact that the German fans will be as devastated as the English fans were on Saturday evening. I can’t say that the Germans deserved to win, for much of the match, they looked like they were cruising and playing for a penalty shoot-out, and never really looked like scoring until Italy fired two warning shots across the bow early in the second half of extra time rattling the woodwork twice. Suddenly there was much more urgency in the German squad, and the hosts came close on several occasions as did the Italians as the game got stretched. But it was Fabio Grosso that broke the deadlock in the 118th minute and Italy’s all time greatest goal-scorer Alessandro Del Piero put the game out of Germany’s reach in the 120th minute after a couple of frantic attacks by the Germans to force penalties. I did want Germany to win their own world cup after England’s exit, but tonight they were outplayed by the Italians and sat back, absorbed the pressure trying to force penalties, which the Germans would have been favourites to win. But when you have a team that really don’t want the match to go to penalties is a risky game as penalty shootouts haven’t treated the Italians well in the past! And I have to say that the Italians won the game fair and square, none of the usual theatrics and diving that used to plague Italian teams in the past; so top marks to the Italians! Now of course tomorrow’s game is Portugal (cheating bastards) versus France (what can I say, they’re French); I really hope that France can do a serious number on the Portuguese and pack Scolari and his team back home with their tails between their legs. Obviously I am a little biased against Portugal for obvious reasons, but I am no fan of France either, but they are the lesser of two evils!