Where's the guy from the Mars advert when you need him?
25/06/12 02:07
Footcall 2012 Day 16...
This was it, England back in the Quarter Finals ready to duel with Italy in Kiev. Up until this point neither team had rewritten the form book and who knows what to expect at the end of it all. One thing was for sure, there was always going to be a result and for those battle weary England fans that meant only one thing, the possibility of penalties! 1990 saw England embark on our first ever penalty shoot-out, which saw Chrissy Waddle blast high wide and handsome over the West German bar. Six years later we enjoyed a brief moment of success from the penalty spot, remember when we beat Spain in Euro 96, Stuart Pearce laying to rest the ghosts from Italia 90. Ultimately though it ended the same way, as poor Gareth Southgate failed to convert his opportunity in the semi finals against Germany. It was after this match that I personally swore not to invest quite so much emotion into my national team. Of course this all evaporated when just two years after fighting like lions, the same fate fell to David Batty who joined this group of branded individuals leaving the fans gutted once again. 2004 once again saw England exited from the Euros by the hands of Portugal (and cheeky keeper Ricardo), Darius Vassell being our primary culprit on this occasion. And two years after that we lost to them again in the World Cup 2006, few of us care who lost it for us then but Jamie Carragher was the last England spot kicker that year before Ronaldo sealed our fate. Well surely we wouldn't be going through it all again?
The match started with great pace, so much better than last nights game, certainly no chance of nodding off during this one! We looked sharp, but we do tend to look good in the first half of the first half, it's the other three halves we tend to look ragged. Like the Spaniards, Italy were pretty confident on the ball and this was all orchestrated by the midfield maestro, Pirlo, who reminded me of Jan Molby in his hay day (but quicker :-). Our talisman Rooney was puffing and wheezing early on once again and maybe even more significantly, Capt'n Gerrard who had been steering the England ship up until now seemed to have slightly broken rudder! Never-the-less we surely had enough courage and hootspa to squeeze some sort of a result, we're still playing "Golden Goal" right?
Mind you, De Rossi hit a wickedly slicing shot which would have seen any golf ball out of bounds on your local municipal, and this had the beating of Joe Hart only to ping off the outside of the post... thankfully! Then at the other end Glen Johnson seemed to find himself in prime position just 6 yards out and the best he could do was scoop it up for Buffon to cling on to! Blimey, can you just imagine the look on Linekar's and Shearer's face in the studio when this happened, they would have lapped that one up! Amazingly the first 45 did finish nil nil but it was going well, no need to be disheartened just yet.
In the second half, that man De Rossi scuppered a perfect opportunity to put the blues in front, this could only have happened because he had one short and one long sleeve. Maybe if he had converted either of his chances this fashion style might well have caught on in the streets of Milan, well maybe not now! As Italy took the lion's share of possession we could see Hart was under more and more pressure from Balotelli and Diamanti. The writing was now on the wall... extra time.
Always a cagey affair, extra time, as neither side really wants to put their head on the block but Italy carved out the best chance and they even managed to score from the head of the "little nut" Nocerino but the linesman was in our favour as he waved him offside. Soon after this the extra 30 was up and here we were again, on the rickety bridge we know and love as the penalty shoot-out. First decision for manager Roy was who was on the playlist for these tunes?
Balotelli was first up to face Joe Hart, his Man City colleague, and he comfortably put it away but was then followed by a Gerrard equaliser. First blood was drawn by England as Montolivo kicked it wide... come on England we cheered! Rooney then scored to put us 2-1 up. Next up, man of the match Andrea Pirlo stepped up to do a cheeky little dink down the middle to evade Hart's dive to make it two all. Then young Ashley Young stepped up and blasted it against the bar... Drat! The "little nut" pushed the Italians 3-2 up before our other Ashley (Cole) feebly put it into Buffon's arms... I think Cheryl might have given it a better go than that! Our fate was sealed when Diamanti finally buried the English with his conversion to see Italy through to the semis 4-2 on pens :-( Welcome to English football management Roy! Is that 'Arry's phone I can hear ringing?
And so to the Footcall league...
It's all change at the top! Well not quite. Manoj maintains his 100% record in the knockouts so far and has elbowed aside, Chris & Nick and Steve Goodwin as they slip a little bit. Don't give up hope guys it's still wide open. Can anyone stop Matt Green scoring points, his deliberation over Italy or England paid off this evening. Paul and Nathaniel are also moving up the money bracket as too is Jonny Hill and Ollie Whitfield. Stuart Acott and Darryl Farmer have had Quarter Final clean sweeps along with Jamie & Ian, Barry Smith, Dan Wilks, Steve Russell, Nick Simmonds, Adam Jones, Nick Stacey, Eddie (young and old) Bojtlers, Kevin (here I come) Appleton, Leanne (not Lyn) Rennie, Hannah (Jack are you watching) Wakefield, Neil (I was in last place not so long ago) Larkin, Neil (the clean sweeper) White, Lee (better than Reggie) Albrecht, Chris (yes I am in 72nd now Maxine) Read, Mark Horner, Robert McNamara, Leanne (Sean pfff!) Maloney and a rare mention for Keith (the drums) Reynolds!
Quite a few have managed to get a clean sweep of zeros as well :-) Mick (OMG, I forgot about the Hall of Fame) Mallion, Dan (I'm only in this to support Jo) Mackenzie, Sean (here I am Leanne) Broad, Sharon (it was worth a punt) Hills, Lee (you might have to wait another 46 years) Baker all scored nowt for the Quarter Final results. These three are now dangerously in with a chance of the vuvuzela award.
But...
There can only be one winner today and it is my pleasure to award my brother Simon, two points for guessing Italy to win which now threatens his vuvuzela position! Ironically tonight's match finished 0-0 which would have earned him his one and only red square but of course have moved the goal posts in the Knockout Stages, unlucky bruv!
That's it for the Quarters, now we march proudly to the Semis. The next two matches are worth four points each so let's see what that does to the table.
Dj