I haven’t had a chance to watch as much of the World Cup this year as I had hoped. I did watch today’s game, though, and wow. It was great. Germany did not deserve to lose by two goals. The match was phenomenal. Italy outplayed the Germans in the first half, dominating possession, but were unable to put anything away. I thought Germany was the stronger team in the second half, but again they were unable to score.

During the first fifteen-minute overtime period, the game began to open up. Neither team seemed to want the game to go to penalties, and both sides made attacks on goal. Still scoreless heading into the second overtime period, things got even hotter. Still, the match seemed sure to be headed to penalties until Italy’s Grosso tucked in a beautiful goal in the 118th minute. Germany pressed in desperation, but this just freed Italy to make a strong counterattack and score a decisive second goal with seconds remaining.

A fantastic game, well-played by both sides.