euro 2012 Match 28 - Quarter Finals: England vs. Italy

[Cute James]

Congratulations to Italy, with far greater possession and more goal attempts, they were deserved winners. We were totally outplayed.

Terry was superb - one of England's best this tournament - however Rooney was clearly unfit and arguably shouldn't have been on the pitch. Hodgson should have stuck with Welbeck, but the media had already selected Rooney for him.

Oh well, if there's one positive from this result, it's that we won't be humiliated once again by the Germans.

[DrCheese]

it's that we won't be humiliated once again by the Germans.

Italy will be tho. If they couldn't beat us in 120 minutes then they have no chance of beating the Germans.

I back Spain to win the final tho.

[Vice]

Watching this game was like a 90 minute session of foreplay. They got so close to scoring it was unreal. I was on the edge of my seat on more than one occasion. I was surprised by how many times Italy got a chance to score and messed it up. Every time it was just out or hit the bar it was difficult to watch them fumble so much and then when they actually got it in, it was disallowed.

And england were even worse, they made a lot less attempts to score and in the last 30 minutes they just didn't care anymore. They weren't going for the ball as much many of the players were pacing around like they'd already lost it.

I was hoping it wouldn't come down to penalties considering England's track record with those but alas it did and our goal keeper jumped too soon and then jumped the wrong way. He must feel like crap after that, poor bloke.

Italy definitely deserved to win it after our display on the pitch. I hope they give Germany a good game.

[Noir Angel]

Ashely Young, he shouldn't of really played tonight or been subbed earlier on. His performance was pretty poor, at that's not taking into the penalty miss.

I agree, he was terrible tonight and in my opinion he should have been the one subbed, not Wellbeck. Also, it seems kinda Ironic that Rio Ferdinand was left out for "not being match fit" when Rooney evidently wasn't match fit either. Apparently it does matter what your name is.

[Rappy Veteran]

in all that pressure of the shoot...pirlo pulled out a gem for the ages (Y)

[Cute James]

Yep, Pirlo was ice cool - he's been Italy's star player this tournament. An excellent servant to the game.

[Noir Angel]

The confidence needed to pull that off is supreme but these days with keepers prone to diving early not such a bad move. Pirlo was brilliant all match, it was a fitting moment for him.

[Lingwo]

We need a gif of Ashley Cole's penalty. That was much better.

Pirlo was ice cool and did a cheeky chip. Cole bricked it before he got to the spot and hit it snail pace to the keepers hands.

I hope he guts the squad and starts again. Better still re-think their tactics. We got Young and Walcott on the wing and with their pace we should be letting them attack defenders.

The stroke of genius came late when he replaced Scott Parker with Henderson. A tired Scott Parker is better than Henderson (did he even touch the ball).

Rooney was a mess also. He looked slow and his touch was off.

While i'm not his biggest fan, Terry was immense for us. Him and Gerrard were excellent this tournament. For the first time in years England had an excellent defence.

I still believe we need to overhaul the squad though and get younger players in and stick with them. Personally we should have done it for the Euros, so even if we did lose and didn't get out the groups, the players would have got the experience. Now we go back to playing friendlies and qualifiers every now and then.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

To be honest I thought England played pretty well but Italy were just better. Italy deserved to beat us in the normal running of the game but I was pleased we managed to hold them through to penalties, as it gave us a good chance of going through and beating Italy - given how penalties are just a lottery!

I think it was right for us to go out at this point - Germany would have ripped us to pieces!

[scaramonga]

Byeee!