the Turkey against Croatia game but even then I hung on to see the most dramatic of finishes between those two sides

I have made sure to watch every quarter final all the way through and the closest I had come before last night to channel surfing had been during the Turkey against Croatia game but even then I hung on to see the most dramatic of finishes between those two sides. Looking back now I would rather watch that game all over again rather than be put through Spain V Italy. One of my pet peeves in football has to be sides that sit back and defend for the majority of the game whilst hoping to knick a goal to win it from a dead ball situation. Head this way for another pet peeve of mind.

That’s exactly what Italy tried to do yesterday evening leading me to draw a comparison between them and Bolton Wanderers. Italy are known for their defensive strengths but what Roberto Indian satta did on Sunday night was apply the shackles to his side in the hope they could prevent Spain getting anywhere near Gianluigu Buffon’s goal and it worked very well. What he also did was tell his players to send long balls up to Luca Toni in the hope he would hold them up and knock them down for the Italian midfield. Only problem was this failed to work and as Toni became isolated a pattern emerged of a red Spanish waves crashing against a white Italian wall.