Jumping in joy

Jump up from the bed, punch the air, do a lil samba - all that was my reaction when Italy scored the second goal today. And it has been long since I've done that. Ecstasy doesn't event begin to explain my state now. Is it coz Italy won or is it coz Germany lost??? I don't really know - but right now, I'm riding on a very high wave.

But yeah - justice to my judgments at last and for the first time, the team that i backed won in an evenly matched competition. And the better team won as well - no "one man in front of goal mouth" business. Rich, pure, high class football throughout the match and as a passionate football fan i simply enjoyed the 2 hrs if the game i got to see.

I guess now the world saw where Germany is exactly placed. I'm not speaking this coz Germany lost today. They just aren't good enough to have even reached the Semis and against Argentina they were just plain lucky. Aargh - enuf of the past!!! Take a look at the team and they have some good players. Klose, Podolski and Ballack (who really hasn't impressed me in any of the games I've seen him play) are the ones i can think of now. But apart from that, they are a team "under construction". The fact that this team rode the home support and all the luck it had to reach the Semis is itself commendable. Bye Bye Germany - I'm glad i can say that today.

Ah!!! Italy. What can i say. Now this is one of the teams i like. But i really haven't seen them play attacking football. Today they did, for the second game running. And what can one say about their defense?!?!? Cannavaro was just out-of-the-world. He was having an inspired match and some of the saves, tackles and blocks he made today were awesome. Top class defending from that guy and other guys sticking to the routine Italian way of defending meant that in the whole game Buffon, the world's costliest goal keeper, had to make only one save - and that was a stupendous one, which saved the match.

One must definitely mention the tactical shrewdness of the Italians today. They pushed hard during the early stages in all sessions and silently went back to defending during the later parts of a session, in an attempt to catch their breaths for the next session. It was quite an irony that the goals came towards the fag end of the last session of normal play. But again, that appears to me as a strategic bluff as well. All in all - Italy scores 5 on 5 for today's performance. July 7th is a different day :)