Monday 25 June 2012

Italy 0-0 England; Italy win 4-2 on penalties

And so another tournament ends for England. The team ran out of energy after 50 minutes, though their ability to hold onto the ball dissipated a lot earlier than that.

But for the woodwork and the epic foot and bodywork of John Terry who was England's man of the match by a country, city and suburban mile, this would have been over long before Ashley's Young and Cole missed their penalties.

For me, and yes, I am about to enter armchair manager role, Young should have been subbed early in the second half instead of Milner, who was having his best game of the tournament, crossing effectively and looking in the mood to take people on.

Young, on the other hand was having a bit of an off today to put it mildly, and I can't have been the only one shouting 'noooo' at my wallmounted widescreen when he strode up to take his spot kick. It was like me having a bad day at the office and then being asked to work late. Inevitably, and like Mr Young, I'll end up hitting the bar.

But no blame should be attached to those whose spot kicks went awry. The gulf in class between the Italians and the English was as wide as something that's very wide indeed, an oil tanker in fact, to try and continue the gulf theme.

We must wait at least another two years for more disappointment, and sit and watch as the Italians take on the Germans on Thursday.

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