There wasn't very much to choose between Spain and Italy, and it finished 0-0 after 120 minutes. Spain didn't play as well as they can. Of the three subs that Aragones brought on, Cesc, of course, was brilliant, but the other two guys? I would have left on Torres and Iniesta.
Spain keeper Iker Casillas did really well to stop Italy twice in the final shootout, and Cesc kept his nerve and sent Buffon the wrong way to put away the spot kick that sealed it.
Next up for Spain is high-flying Russia in the Euro 2008 semi-finals.
American viewers had commentary from Andy Gray and Adrian Healey, who are by far superior to any commentators we've ever heard on ESPN. Andy Gray made a really convincing case against German referee Herbert Fandel. I don't normally enjoy beating up on referees, but Fandel was consistently bad, hopeless.
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Andy Gray exposes Tommy Smyth as the dithering blabberers that they are. He's a breath of fresh air. Gray and Healy are far superior to Rae and Smyth, and I hope the pair continues gets rotated into the Champions League festivities this fall.
Fandel made a mess of the match. Seems like referees are having undue influence in many games, from Ms. Constance Bickering overseeing the German/Austrian clash to this and all games in between.
Let them play their football.
My favorite moment so far was when Gray called Buffon "buffoon" yesterday by mistake. I like the keeper alright, but the slip was too good to pass up.
His joy in the game is contagious, especially during the Dutch matches.
It would be very nice if we could keep Andy Gray for Champions League coverage. I haven't if that's planned. I didn't know we'd have him for Euro 2008 until I tuned in.
Tommy Smyth and Derek Rae are pretty average, but way better than some of the guys ESPN has had for international tournaments in the past - J.P. Dellacamera is my all-time least favorite, although many supporters found Dave O'Brien even more offensive.
O'Brien would comment on World Cup games having watched very little football ever in his life, which infuriated some viewers. I didn't mind him as much because he didn't try to pretend he was an expert.
Dellacamera would make me insane by getting excited at really inappropriate times like, "AND ITS MAKALELE IN THE CENTER CIRCLE!!!"
I love hearing the crowd noise, but he had me scrambling for the mute button.
Dellacamera rocks. Anything that can grant a little excitement to this dreadfully boring "sport" is fine by me. Nil-nil. Ugh. At least I can enjoy the histrionics of the flopping in a Spain-Italy pairing. Will be nice to see how Spain fares against some mor physical northern-european play.
Soccer, Not Football - Where do you stand on fall versus autumn?
To be fair to Dellacamera, the center circle is halfway to goal. ANYTHING could happen.
If we could have an American commentator who was good that might be the best way to grow the audience, but Andy Gray is good. I bet he's just here for the Euros, but maybe they'll get him back for the World Cup.
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