Oh, how satisfying was Portugal's exit to Spain, purely for the spectacle of fake Ronaldo being made to look a chump yet again. If someone can tell me when he last actually scored a goal from one of those ridiculous free-kicks he takes, I would be very grateful. And to leave yourself last in the shoot-out in a bid for personal glory; what a tool. I had been leaning towards Nasri as my plank of the tournament, but I'm beginning to think that Ronnie just shades it. Even the much-loathed Pepe had the good grace afterwards to applaud his Real Madrid teammates and shake the hands of all the officials whilst the Portuguese captain walked down the tunnel with narry a backwards glance. Cock.
I have to admit that, impressed as I have been by Italy from week one on, I would never have foreseen how comprehensively they demolished Germany in the second semi-final. Germany bottled it and had no reply to the mastery of Andrea Pirlo (52). This correspondant can't help think that the Italians have a very good chance indeed of stopping the Spanish in their tracks but we shall see...It feels a bit weird to be happy if Italy wins but this is an Italy team it's ok to like. At least they're playing football anyway instead of parking the proverbial bus.
What a stonking tournament it's been though. Lots of inconsistency from all but Spain, Italy and Germany early on meant that it's been anyone's for the taking so lots of excitement. England's hilarious false dawn was also highly entertaining and so now is the point when I ask for submissions for readers' suggestions for their favourites. Plank, player, team, moment of the tournament; how was it for you? What did you love, what did you hate? Blog entries gratefully received.
