France and Italy World Cup. Totally missed todays game. Just tuned in and learned it was a done deal.
I watched all of the overtime yesterday, just a stunning outcome. 119 minutes of scoreless ball (that's the equivalent of 2
entire games in the NFL, NBA or NHL), with each team hitting the crossbar/post during the early part of OT. Then, only about 90 seconds before going to a penalty kick shootout, Italy scores not once but twice. The critical first goal came on an absolutely perfect strike from just inside the right corner of the box with 2 defenders & the goalie between the ball & the net. On watching the slow-mo replay, you could see clearly that the kick bent wide around the further defender, and then curved back just inches inside the post & just millimeters past the fingertips of the lunging German goalie Lehmann. The soccer equivalent of a half-court buzzer-beater in the Final Four. For reasons of bloodline & the time I spent there as an exchange student, I always support the Germans, and furthermore I
really didn't like the Italians in this year's cup, (again yesterday they did more than their fair share of flopping to get calls, but thankfully the Mexican referee almost never rewarded them). But that goal may have been the best I have ever seen, given the situation.
Heading into the 2nd round I told me friend that the 2 teams I was least impressed with & enamored of were France & Italy, but now they're in the final. Oh well, shows what I know.
