Euro 2016 Quarterfinal #3

Germany 1, Italy 1
Germany wins penalty shootout, 6-5
Goals: Mesut Özil (GER) 65’, Leonardo Bonucci (ITA) 78’ (PK)

General Thoughts:

• In case you didn’t hear during the broadcast, going into this game, Germany had never beaten Italy in a competitive match.[1]
• In the first 35-40 minutes of the game, the ball seemed to live in Germany’s attacking half. Between the 41st and 45th minutes, the ball seemed to live in Italy’s attacking half.  Honestly, Italy was lucky to be tied at the half, because they gave up gobs of scoring chances.  Having said that, when Italy did mount an attack, Germany had to make some really tough plays to keep the ball from going into the goal.
• The way Germany dominated possession, it was only a matter of time before Germany scored. They did so in the 65th minute, when midfielder Mesut Özil swept a bouncing ball into the net from around 8 yards out with his left foot.
• German forward Mario Gómez almost made it 2-0 in the 68th minute, but Gianluigi Buffon made a very athletic save to tip the shot over the crossbar.
• German fullback Jérôme Boateng made a very foolish play in the 78th minute when he jumped with his hands above his head. The resulting carom off of his arm gave Italy a penalty kick, which Italian fullback Leonardo Bonucci made to tie the game.
• Extra time had a few scoring chances, but nothing special.
• I expected this game to feature a higher level of play, quality-wise.
• What the heck was Simone Zaza trying to do in the penalty shootout? That flutter step run-up jog-up walk-up was ridiculous, and then he missed badly.  Just step up and hammer it home!
• No Germans had missed in a penalty shootout since 1982, and in this one, Müller, Özil, and Schweinsteiger all missed.
• What an epic penalty shootout.  It took nine kickers from each side to decide this one.[2]  (I was hoping that it would get to the 11th kickers so that we would see the goalies shoot.  Alas…)
• When it went to kicks, I had a strong feeling that Germany would win. They could nicknamed Die Überpenaltymaschine.   Their record in penalty shootouts in major tournaments is 6-1, including 4-0 in World Cup play.  Their only loss was the very first one, when Czechoslovakia beat them in the 1976 Euro Final.[3]

July 2, 2016, 4:09 pm MST

[1] You didn’t expect me to mention that without providing the list, did you?  Here it is:  1962 World Cup group stage, 0-0 draw.  1970 World Cup Semifinals, Italy won 4-3 after extra time (this was dubbed The Game of the Century).  1978 World Cup group stage, 0-0 draw.  1982 World Cup Final, Italy 3-1.  1988 Euro group stage (in Germany), 1-1 draw.  1996 Euro group stage, 0-0 draw.  2006 World Cup semifinal (in Germany), Italy won 2-0 after extra time, scoring both goals after the 118th minute (out of 120).  2012 Euro semifinal, Italy won, 2-1.

[2] This tied the longest penalty shootout in Euro history, along with Czechoslovakia-Italy in the 1980 3rd Place game.  The craziest part about that one is that the only miss from both teams came from the very last Italian shooter, Fulvio Collovati.  Poor guy.

[3] The only miss came from Germany’s Uli Hoeneß.  The final kick was the famously chipped ball from Czechoslovakia’s Antonín Panenka, and to this day, a Panenka Kick is the term for a chipped penalty.