Wayne Rooney salutes the fans after the exit
Carl Kinsella
Staff Writer
England 0 – 0 Italy (England 2 – 4 Italy after penalties)
Italy deservedly took their place among the complete set of Euro 2012 semi-finalists last night, overcoming Roy Hodgson’s hard-working England team – the outcome decided by nine penalties at the Kyiv Olympic Stadium.
Remarkably, the match was the first nil-all of the tournament, a result that seemed inconceivable after the first ten minutes, let alone the whole one-hundred-and-twenty. The game burst into life on four minutes when Daniele De Rossi saw his heart-stopping, twenty-five yard volley fly past Joe Hart and connect with the post. A spectacular, spinning effort that would have been a worthy goal of the tournament winner had it actually hit the net. Not two minutes later, Gianluigi Buffon was called into action down the other end of the pitch when Glen Johnson forced James Milner’s scuffed cross towards goal from close-range. The keeper went on to prove his mettle by clasping the ball off the line and forcing it away from danger.
The first twenty-five minutes of the game were England’s best, but decent crosses from both Ashley Young and Glen Johnson were wasted by Wayne Rooney who leaves yet another international tournament without so much as a green tick on his England career. As the Italians grew into the game, it was another controversial young forward who failed to make his mark. Despite netting against Ireland, Mario Balotelli’s extremely poor tournament form continued during normal time last night. After beating England’s offside trap, Balotelli had a chance to test his Man City team-mate Hart but allowed John Terry enough time to recover and block his shot. It was one of a plethora of decent opportunities carved out by Andrea Pirlo, who has seized this tournament as a chance to prove his class to the world, as if it were ever in doubt.
The second half saw the game continue in a similar vein, Italy’s midfielders relentlessly shifting the play back and forth in their opponent’s half and waiting for cracks to appear. Once the cracks did appear in England’s defence, however, Italy proved themselves wasteful. One of their worst misses came when a corner found its way to an unmarked De Rossi at the back post. Unaware that he had so much time to stick it in the net, the Italian spun and drilled a shot wide when it would have been easier to hit the target. England’s wingers desperately failed to get a hold of the ball and service either Danny Welbeck or Wayne Rooney but England still posed a threat when they did manage to pierce Italy’s defence. A long-range free-kick from Steven Gerrard fooled everyone but Buffon in the Italian goal, his instinctive reaction ensuring Gerrard’s punt didn’t simply bounce over the line.
Players like Ashley Cole and John Terry proved their worth when it came to siege warfare for the umpteenth time this year, the Chelsea lads crucial in seeing the game out for the entire ninety minutes without England having been battered too badly. The boisterous performance of Andy Carroll also drew attention to an assertiveness that England had been lacking up front. But as the game went into extra-time the momentum didn’t change. Italy continued to squeeze the English defence and on 115 minutes, Antonio Nocerino nodded into an unprotected English goal only to have been ruled offside, mere millimetres rescuing the England. It was a short-lived relief for the boys in white, however, as the game simply wound down to the inevitable. Just as the Irishman knows his team will be knocked out because they’re rubbish, so too does the Englishman know his team will be shown the door via the scenic route of international competition, the penalty shootout.
Italy and England are two teams synonymous with failure in penalty shootouts, having lost 2 out of 7 and 1 out of 7 in major tournaments, respectively. Well the curse remains unbroken for England, who leave the tournament with a penalty shootout record of 1 in 8. Both Balotelli and Gerrard opened each team’s account for the night, both firing low to the keeper’s right. Ricardo Montolivo was the first player to miss, and Wayne Rooney clinched a brief lead for his country. However, Ashley Young saw his penalty cannon back off the crossbar, and Ashley Cole saw his own smothered by Gigi Buffon. Former West Ham striker Alessandro Diamanti swept home the winner and England could finally get off the rollercoaster. Special mention goes to Andrea Pirlo, whose audacious chip of a penalty left Joe Hart dumbfounded on the ground and cemented Pirlo’s claim to oust the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger or Xavi in UEFA’s Team of The Tournament.
So it was yet another early adieu for England. Italy will go on to face Joachim Low’s Germany, who ran out emphatic winners against Greece earlier on in the week. They do so having played a physically draining 120 minutes of football, and having suffered an emotionally draining penalty shootout. Germany come into the game having rested their front three and having beaten Greece in comfortable 4-2 win. If little else (and it is little else), Italy will certainly have the strength of the underdog on their side.
