At the start of the game I was supporting England. After 120 minutes I felt that it would have been a monstrous injustice had Italy not gone through. Over 90 minutes and 120 minutes they were by far the better side and deserved to win. They showed flair and were a pleasure to watch. Italian playmaker Andrea Pirto was just a delight – his ultra-cool penalty kick completed a game which he dominated with a cool brilliance which was just inspiring. The commentators reaction was that England are only “average” – hmmm.
Italy are not a great side, not even a great Italian side. But they are very good. As are the other 3 semi-finalists. My heart wants Italy to defeat Germany and then Spain in the final. My head expects a Spain v Germany final and in that game I think Spain should win and I pray it does win as a) they are the best side in the tournament and b) they are not Germany.
Describing England as average is fair if it is the average of the England sides 1973-2012. That is to say the benchmark is not a high one. Relative to the better European and South American sides the truth is that England are not very good at all – there is a gulf in class. Three England players inspired confidence in this tournament: Gerrard, Walcott and Terry ( although he remains a nasty piece of work). The rest are premiership prima donnas who are not fit to play on the same park as men such as Pirto.
That England lose on penalties is no surprise. All the talk was of how England had prepared for a shoot out as never before. Joe Hart had watched every Italian penalty free kick for 10 years on video in his hotel room. The Italian keeper Buffon said that he had prepared by watching “naughty” videos in his hotel room. Ho Ho. Buffon is no buffoon but he might as well have been watching porn in preparation, knowing that he would face dismal shots from folk like Ashley Cole – a truly lamentable attempt at a penalty strike from a truly lamentable individual.
Roy Hodgson deserves some credit for taking a not very good team as far as they could go. I hope that the red tops lay off him and give him a shot to build a decent squad for the next World Cup. There are younger players with promise who may give him the material he needs. John Terry returns for a thought police “show –trial”. Much though I hold the man in contempt I would not wish to see him brought down in such circumstances and therefore hope that he is cleared. As for the rest of the England team I shall enjoy a summer not thinking about them at all. Instead I join the staff at Real Man Pizza in rooting for Italia against the Krauts later this week.