Italy 1 : 1 Germany
Germany win 6-5 on penalties
by Brian Fonseca
One of the most dramatic penalty shoot outs in history saw Germany eliminate Italy for the first time in competitive football.
Germany won the shoot out 6-5 after nine kicks each which saw shots balloon over the bar, hit the post and be well saved. There could be no more indication of the anarchic close to this than Italian substitute Simone Zaza who was brought on in the 12oth minute just for the shoot out as a specialist penalty taker, being among those who missed.
Thierry Henry said they were:
“Some of the worst penalties in the history of shootouts.”
while Alan Shearer told the BBC:
“Some of those penalties were among the worst I’ve ever seen.”
It took one of the game’s standouts, 1FC Köln’s Jonas Hector to score the conclusive penalty, on a night where his ingenuity was also part of the 65th minute goal that broke the Italian defensive stranglehold.
Italy had defended stoutly but finally crumbled to a Mesut Ozil goal in the second half. A defensive Italy seemed to lack the wherewithal to equalize but were given a gift when Jerome Boateng conceded a penalty through a foolish handball.
That sent the match to extra time and then penalties.
In the end, 16 penalties later, the men in white celebrated as Germany defeated Italy 6-5 in a shootout after the sides couldn’t separate themselves during open play, goals from Mesut Ozil and Leanardo Bonucci cancelling each other out.
The match was slow to start before it exploded in the second half. The first half went through the usual period in games between titans where both sides felt each other out as they slowly evolved into the game.
The ball went into the back of the net in the 27th minute but it wouldn’t count. Bastian Schweinsteiger, who came on for Sami Khedira after he ran into Giorgio Chiellini and injured his groin in the 13th minute, fouled Mattia De Sciglio prior to heading the ball past Gianluigi Buffon.
The moment was the only memorable one of the first half hour as the teams took turns recovering the ball from each other at midfield in a tactical battle.
It wasn’t until the final five minutes of the half that the fans in Bordeaux found reasons to cheer. Germany raced across the pitch in a swift counter-attack started by Manuel Neuer, who quickly restarted play after De Sciglio crossed him the ball after it had gone out of play.
The move ended on the head of Mario Gomez, who couldn’t get high enough to put the ball on target. Thomas Mueller had a better chance seconds later, but the Bayern Munich striker couldn’t end his goalless spell at Euro 2016, whiffing the strike as Italy breathed a sigh of relief.
Jonas Hector was the deciding factor on a night of errors
Photo: Wikipedia
The relief turned to anguish on the other end of the pitch. A long ball from midfield found Emanuel Giaccherini in behind the Italian defense for the third time in the half.
The Sunderland midfielder pulled it back to Stefan Sturaro, who struck it off a German defender and wide.
The fight for dominance in the match extended into the second half, but it crept in the direction of the Germans with each passing minute. Alessandro Florenzi flew across the goal line to deflect a Muller shot wide in the 53rd minute, an acrobatic clearance worthy of a poster.
Florenzi wasn’t on the line 12 minutes later and it cost Italy.
A clearance from Neuer was mishandled and fell to Gomez, who did well to run into left flank and hold up play long enough for the heroic Hector to make a slashing run into the Italian penalty area.
Hector’s cross took a deflection and fell nicely to an onrushing Ozil, who nudged it past Buffon to make it 1-0.
The roles were reversed three minutes later as Ozil turned provider to Gomez with a magnificent ball, finding the striker in space in the area behind the defense. But Gomez was let down by his first touch and forced to attempt a backheel, allowing Buffon to recover and save the strike.
Germany was confident and Italy looked defeated, the final result seeming inevitably inclined towards the Germans finally defeating Italy at an international competition. But the tide quickly turned in the 77th minute, when Jerome Boateng contested a Florenzi cross with his arms in the air, allowing Chiellini to head the ball onto his hand and earn a penalty for Italy.
Bonucci was assigned the responsibility of taking the spot kick and he made no mistake in his first career penalty attempt, slotting it into the bottom right corner past Neuer to knot the match.
The goal was the first conceded by Germany at Euro 2016, ruining a run of 418 scoreless minutes.
The crowd jumped and celebrated a second 10 minutes later, the clock approaching the 90th minute as De Sciglio had a go just outside the area, but the ball hit the side netting and Germany survived to fight another half-hour at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux
Extra-time began much like the match itself, neither team creating danger as they battled for position before Germany slowly emerged as the .
Muller had a pair of strikes from distance blocked in succession and Boateng shot wide from the same position following the ensuing corner 10 minutes into the extra period, neither forcing Buffon to move.
The second half was ushered in by a golden chance from Julian Draxler, who came on 71 minutes in for Gomez but didn’t make his presence known until he skied a bicycle kick in the six-yard box after Italy failed to clear a cross.
Draxler was the protagonist minutes later, leading the charge on a counter, running at the tired legs of the Italian defense with two teammates on either side awaiting a pass.
But Draxler disappointed on the final touch, his ball to Muller on the right far too heavy, forcing another chance to fizzle away.
A repeat of the memorable finish in the meeting between the sides in Germany in 2006 didn’t come and penalties were needed to separate the sides.
A Neuer save and Hector finish killed the curse.
The Germans rejoiced after winning the longest penalty shootout in Euro history and their future was determined — a date with either Cinderella or the hosts in Marseille on Thursday night with a chance at reaching the final.
France will have home advantage but will lit be Hector’s House?
Follow Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) on Twitter for updates on Euro 2016.
