Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio!

For the England-Italy match, I did something, largely for the favor of my company, I rarely do; I watched a sporting match, one in which I had much interest, in a bar- two bars to be exact.  I exited the first place because it just wasn't properly set up to show a match and it was infested with dilettantes.  While preparing to leave, I resorted to watching on my phone.  The feed on my phone was actually 8 seconds ahead of the in-house feed.  I wanted so badly for someone to score, so I could scream GOAL! while the rest of these bananas were still watching the build-up.

The second joint was, in the Jules Winnfield sense, a more friendly place, albeit one where the friends had almost zero understanding.  I wound up explaining nuances of soccer to several people, who seemed gripped by my explanations, yet appalled that I would hold so much knowledge.

And I will strike down with great vengeance and fuuuurious anger...

The predicted penalties beckoned, albeit without the goal I credited to each side.  To explain why that was would involve rehashing the match.

I texted a(n) Italian buddy of mine that I called direction on both Rooney and Cole’s PKs and called Pirlo’s chip- I think Joe Hart was the only person in the civilized world who didn’t know that was coming- and, though I didn’t tell him, Montolivo’s miss (at least I said Montolivo was going to hit the post; he didn’t even do that).  I’m glad Buffon heard me for Cole.  I made no call on Gerrard’s because, quite frankly, I didn’t want him to miss.  I also missed Balotelli- not for his kick, but for his reaction.  I called that he was going to stand motionless and say, I hate you all.

I think Pirlo’s PK messed with Hart’s head. By his expressions before Italy’s last two kicks, Hart was projecting his fear and that he didn’t know WTF to do.  It was proven (to me) by Italy softly rolling two kicks and Hart getting sent the wrong way.

For his part, my Italian buddy has remained humble, saying only that he is “hopeful.”  I see those Germans as being a problem.

The funniest thing I saw was when Parker was subbed out for Jordan (Bieber) Henderson.  He had this look, like, you took me off for this {redacted}.

Will another encounter of the Iberians produce the same drab mach of 2010?  Does a Spain-Germany final beckon, or will the Italians find a way to shut down the Germans, while finding the German net themselves?  Italy beating the Germans at the penalty spot would truly be a departure from form.