Too little, too late

Euro2012 Semi Finals are over, and they end on a bittersweet note.

For the semis, I watched them both out in public with the same friend. For the first one, we sat and angsted at a Sports bar for 3 hours together. For the second one, we braved the dangerous grounds of a German bar and ate delicious German food all the while drinking away our sorrows.

Christiano and Iker practising their lines (perhaps? They both had to read some anti-racism comment...)

My lunch: spätzle with wiener schnitzel (absolutely scrumptious), and our method of drinking away our sorrows (my friend tells me that beer is apparently not enough).

[penalty]
Spain 0[4]-0[2] Portugal
Basically, Spain and Portugal played Euro2012's second full 120 minutes+PK game. SO, the full 120 minutes was a complete snooze fest. Spain attempted their tiki-taka and failed miserably because the Portuguese players kept interrupting their gazillion passes. I applaud the Portuguese for making the Spaniards extremely frustrated.

This guy here has a really funny way of taking his free kick, which doesn't work by the way. (and if you're really interested, it's take 5 steps back and half a step to the left)

Penalties:
Iker chose to go first:
Xabi (missed), Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Gerrard Piqué and Fabregas
Portugal went second:
Moutinho (missed), Pepe, Nani, Bruno Alves (missed) and CR (didn't get to play).

(ngl, I sometimes forget that CR's played in the Premier league and that he speaks perfect English) 

Sergio Ramos pulled a Pirlo for his penalty kick and thank goodness Fabregas's goal went in cause there was a chance that it could have not gone in.

So much happiness!

(also, before I forget, Christiano Ronaldo took a free kick and it was denied by Xavi and David Silva, two of the shortest players on the Spanish side. wtf Christiano?)


(and on a more sad note...)
Italy 2-1[pen] Germany
Well, Germany didn't rise up and play like they used to. If you missed out on the game, don't worry. If you saw the World Cup semi final game between Spain and Germany, this game was basically that, except this time, it was with Italy. Germany played a loose defense and a rather bleak attacking opposition. Italy just played like a bunch of divas Italian men.

 A happy, cheeky, Italian fan. Ya no, go away Mario Balotelli.

Broke my heart, seeing players like Mesut and Muller and Gomez, and Neuer especially, and every other German present, all depressed after the game.So as not to make myself even more sad, I leave you with only the goal scorer (pen, 90+2) of the night for the German side.

And here's a small tidbit preview ish for Sunday's game:

and so they meet again:

Casillas and Buffon: opened their Euro2012 campaign by playing each other in their first game on June 10th and finishing their tournament together by playing the closing game on July 1st, 2012.

There are no 3rd and 4th place game for Euros cause apparently it was abolished back in the 90s, I think? So, ya, see you in 2 years Portugal and Germany! 

Fun fact: 

Euro2012 will be the last Euro where it'll only have 16 teams. For Euro2016 in France, it will have 24 teams playing during the group stages instead. 

This will only be the 4th time the Euros final will be between teams who had already played earlier in the tournament (1988, 1996 and 2004).