Russians and Los Matadores shrugged off a 22 year jinx to see them through to the semis and send home the Italians on penalties. The Dutch side finally appeared to have their weakness of soft central defending exposed and simply were not able to connect on enough set pieces to best the Russian side. I wasn't surprised by the Spain-Italy stalemate but was dissappointed that the Spanish side didn't take more advantage of one of the weakest Italian defenses (minus Buffon) in recent history. I continue to wonder how a team managed by one of the greatest Italian defenders of all time has such a questionable back line. Oh well, they do and it's good to see the World Champs head home.So in the end three group runner-ups (Germany, Turkey, and Russia) went through with the lone group winner through being Spain. This sets up a Germany-Turkey semifinal and a firecracker Russia-Spain showdown. I'll take Germany and Russia to go through to the final. I would have picked Spain before the last round but it appears that the addition of Arshavin has the Russian side clicking on all cylinders. I do think that the Russia-Spain match is probably a truer representation of the two best teams in the tournament, but oh well. The final four matches of the tournament should provide some memorable football.
I'll see you after the semis.
Yours in the beautiful game
Coach Butler
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