The Italian Men's Soccer Team Fucks
CNN - Italy reached the final of Euro 2020 after edging past Spain in a dramatic penalty shootout on Tuesday.
Federico Chiesa's wonderful curled effort had given Italy the lead on the hour mark, before substitute Alvaro Morata finished off a fine passing move to draw Spain level with just 10 minutes of regulation time to go.
With neither side able to find the winning goal in extra-time, the tie went to penalties with Jorginho scoring the decisive penalty kick after Morata's miss to send Italy through to its first major international final since Euro 2012.
Head coach Roberto Mancini has presided over a remarkable turnaround for Italy, which failed to even qualify for the World Cup in 2018.
Italy got Euro 2020 underway on June 11 with a 3-0 win over Turkey and has emerged as a surprise contender to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy after some impressive performances -- this current crop of players is now just one match away from winning only the country's second European Championship and its first since 1968.
Whichever team it faces in Sunday's final -- either England and Demark, who face off on Wednesday -- few will be betting against the Italians.
I am by absolutely no means a soccer expert, but once or twice a decade or so when Italy's team starts to make a run in the Euro and/or World Cup I get caught up in it like any other sports fan.
High level soccer is fucking amazing. The intensity, the anxiety building up continuously through out the match, holding your breath on every shot. The only thing that comes close to it for me is playoff hockey. If every soccer game was on the level that this Spain vs. Italy match I just watched then soccer would be the biggest sport in the world...
That said, what a fucking match.
Scoring against Italy in this Euro Cup has been next to impossible. Not so much that their defense is incredible (it is) but more-so they seem to have possession the entire match, every match. It's been crazy since Group Play when they smoked Wales (1-0), Turkey(3-0), and Switzerland (3-0), then had close ones against Austria(2-1), Belgium (2-1) before meeting the formidable Spaniards in tonight's match.
(sidebar- what the fuck is with the Tuesday scheduling?)
Italy pulled out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd half off a beauty from this scrappy mother fucker Chiesa in transition-
Crowds went nuts in Rome
With time ticking down Spain managed to score the equalizer when this handsome mother fucker Alvaro Morata slipped past the defense
From there we were off for a nail-biting extra time frame where nobody scored which lead to the dreaded penalty kicks…
I say dreaded because penalty kicks have historically killed Italy.
My first memory of World Cup soccer was Roberto Baggio air-mailing this chip shot in the final against Brazil after putting on a fucking spectacle for two months and becoming a worldwide household name…
Four years before that, and ON THIS DAY 31 years ago it was penalty kicks again
But today penalty kicks were not to be Italy's downfall.
The Brazillian born, Italianized Jorge Luiz Frello Filho aka Jorghino saw to that.
Are penalty kicks after a grueling, evened-up match anti-climactic? Very much so. But what are we gonna do about it?
This video from when Jorghino went lower right and Italian fans went nuts in Rome is awesome.
Now it's on to the Finals for the Italians. Personally, I want England. Not sure why, I just think it will make for better shit talk between drunk off their ass English hooligans and irrationally emotional Italians. After not even qualifying for the World Cup last go around this is a run that somewhat makes up for it. Excited for the final on Sunday, 2pm Eastern.