I shall find somewhere to watch the game tomorrow. My head tells me that Spain are the reigning World and Euro champions and will win. My heart fervently wants an Italian victory – it would be a far better result for lifting the human spirit. We shall see.
Spain enjoyed one goal-fest in the group stages. But that was against a very poor Irish side playing without passion, intelligence or – frankly – much skill. Crushing a Hackney-marsh side like that Ireland team told us nothing. For more or less the rest of the tournament Spain have been, for want of a better word, plain boring. Reminiscent of Arsenal sides of old, the Spanish seem to regard a 1 nil victory as a reckless experiment in attacking football.
Italy, had one bad match and that was also against Ireland who on that occassion showed some spirit. The Italians seemed to have their minds on the knockout stages, or those naughty videos that goalkeeper Buffon watches in his room to prepare for penalty shootouts on anything but the game in hand. But it was only Ireland and so they still won easily. Since that game they have been a joy to watch, playing attacking, creative football with flair and passion and bucket loads of skill.That they defeated England on penalties is irrelevent – they were the class and entertaining act on the park and any other result would have been a gross injustice. And then they beat the Krauts – I suspect with all of Europe bar Germany and Austria cheering on the Azzurri.
And so tomorrow what the game really needs is an early Italian goal. That will force Spain to start to play football rather than just defending and hoping to score on the break. Recent games suggest that Spain would be happy with it being 0-0 after 120 minutes and winning the Championship on penalties. That alone is a reason to support Italy. The Italians in contrast will go out to win in 90. Were Italy to score one goal you sense that they would not just sit back and play deep but would seek to score a second. Were Spain to score an early goal they would become even more Arsenal-ish in their approach. It would be better for the human spirit for a team like Italy ( not a great Italian side but a good one) to triumph. Come on the Azzurri!