No Shame For Germany As Italy Through In World Cup Semi Final Classic

Heartbreak for the plucky Germans as Italy’s never say die attitude (and a distinct desire NOT to have to face the Germans at penalties in their own backyard) saw them through to the World Cup Final in easily the finest game of the tournament so far.

Both sides have forced their critics to eat their words during the course of their campaigns and despite the first goal not being scored until the 119th minute, this game was a pulsating end-to-end battle between two sets of the finest footballers on the planet.

The referee played it just right by allowing a few tackles early on which a lesser official would have used to assert his yellow card authority and ruined the game but the players seemed to respect the referee’s attitude and played out the 120 minutes in a great spirit which has refreshed my belief in top level players and the beautiful game at the very highest level.

There was minimal diving and very little playacting, in fact when any player did do it they caught themselves on quickly and got up to a handshake from their opponents as opposed to shaken fists and recriminations. We need more of this.

Grosso and Del Piero will get the main plaudits for their finely taken goals right at the death but I wouldn’t take anything away from any player who stepped out onto that field tonight or the two coaches who seemed to kick every ball from the touchline. Jurgen Klinsmann and Germany can have no shame at exiting at this stage, they played brilliantly but just ran into an Italian side which Lippi has furnished with the attacking potential to match it’s defensive stubbornness. It will take a tough France or Portugal in the final to stop Italy from repeating their antics of 1982 and overcoming a match fixing scandal to lift the World Cup trophy.

I can’t wait until tomorrow night’s semi now that Italy and Germany have set such a high benchmark in quality and entertainment.