Italy scored twice?

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PowerSlacker: Italy scored twice?

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Balotelli scored twice. In fine form. He was a beast out there.

I guess Die Mannschaft got the schaft.

Balotelli is a magnificent bastard!!!

Mario Balotelli: "Best moment of the night was when I saw my mother after the game. I told her those goals were for her"

Germany looked listless on defense and hesitant on offense. Italy genuinely outplayed them today on both sides of the ball.

Which is weird considering how dominant the Germans have been until this point.

It's soccer...so is it really unsolicited?

Soccer... yawn

dj_bigbird: PowerSlacker: Italy scored twice?

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Balotelli scored twice. In fine form. He was a beast out there.

The first was a beauty. The second was better.

tortilla burger: Germany looked listless on defense and hesitant on offense. Italy genuinely outplayed them today on both sides of the ball.

Which is weird considering how dominant the Germans have been until this point.

They did the exact same thing in the 2010 World Cup- looked like the class of the tournament... Except for the semifinal game.

I try to enjoy soccer.
It's like reading Lord of the Rings though, everything sounds too foreign to be real.

tortilla burger
Which is weird considering how dominant the Germans have been until this point.

I couldn't quite follow Löw's decisions today.
Even if you ignore starting with Gomez instead of Klose.

He brought Kroos as someone to annoy Pirlo when Italy had the ball. Alright.
But he brings him for the right side midfielder which means that Germany's right side is weakened, leaving Germany's weakest defender with less support than usual.
It also makes Germany's offense pretty left-sided. And who does he put there to create chances? Podolski *eyeroll*

And when he subs in Müller at the end, i.e. someone who can win headers at least now and then, he puts him on the right side and moves Reus forward next to Klose - Reus, who usually scores from outside the box or by carrying the ball into the goal on counter attacks. No wonder Reus looked better earlier than later.

How do you score two goals wearing Crocs!?

/Remarkable

It was a fun game and I was very very happy with the outcome, but man, Germany seemed like they were miles away until the last quarter. It was like a different team walked on the field.

Balotelli immortalized himself today. No question.

Watching the Spain/Portugal game yesterday, I wondered if they would just increase the size of the goal by about a foot in each direction. It pains me to watch 2 hours of soccer only to have it end on penalty kicks.

Germany's play was confusing. In the second half their D was vulnerable, which is fine if you are selling your D short to attack more to try to come back, but they weren't putting on any additional pressure up front either. Lots of lazy attempts with long balls into the box with no German players around.

The Germans did play soft football, but Balotelli was playing a completely different match than anyone else on the pitch. He was everywhere and played like a man who'd sold his soul to Scratch for skills and aggressiveness. If he plays like that against Spain (who put up a sorry spectacle against Portugal), it'll be 5-0 by the half.

A bunch of pissed-off Germans, and they're already in Poland, and the only one else around are unarmed Italians?

We'll be lucky if anyone escapes alive.

So a black dude scored against Germany's gay goalie while in Poland?

Hitler must be spinning in his grave after this trifecta.