WORLD CUP COMES ALIVE IN THE FIRST SEMI FINAL!!
ITALY OUTLAST GERMANY TO WIN 2-0 IN EXTRA TIME!

Italy may have beaten Germany 2-0 in the first World Cup semi-final but the real winner was football. European soccer is back on track! Full marks and accolades to both teams for playing great competitive soccer. Listen, this is what professional soccer is all about: teams giving spectators a performance that justifies the price of a ticket. There were no attempts to close down the other team with boring defensive soccer; both sides went for each others throats. We had 120 minutes of end to end football. None of the dim -witted, wait and see attitude that characterized many of the first and second round games. The Italian players did not allow the Germans to dictate play; neither were they depending on speculative counter attacks. Some of the shots at goal from both teams were patchy to say the least. But that’s ok. The point is that the teams were adventurous and probed each other constantly. Goal mouth incidents kept us at the edge of our seats. Both teams were not afraid to lose. The first goal was a wicked left legged volley. Lehman, the German keeper didn’t have a chance. The second was an uncomplicated strike from a last minute counterattack. At long last Italian fans heard the faint echoes of that great Italian team which won the 1982 World Cup in the present squad. They were sharp, incisive and not intimidated by the home team’s support in the Stadium. Maybe that’s where the achievement lies: Italy beat the German team on German soil!