As a diehard Italy fan, I will defend the very competent defensive game they played tonight. Their offense was another matter. Had it not been for those two yellows, Pirlo might have provided the looping passes he was feeding (the hapless-for-the-series) Toni like crazy against France.

Again as an Italy fan, I cannot see how Toni could be considered to have played well tonight. He was a non-presence. However, Torres, Villa, Santi Cazorla, Fabregas etc. were STOPPED, plain and simple, and I don't know what's better than that besides actually winning. Zambrotta was spot-on and I'll be glad to see him at Milan in 08-09.

The PKs could of course have gone the other way, at which point I could now be looking forward to even more racist rants from Panzer. I'm rooting for Spain.