4th July

As promised, France and Germany

Germany 1-1 Italy (Germany win 6-5 on penalties)

To be honest, I could do a whole section on penalties. In fact that's where I'm going to start, as after 120 minutes of pulsating, interesting, but ultimately stalemate football, the game ended up going to the spot kicks. You know the saying: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for ninety minutes and in the end, the Germans win." It's a simple mantra, and so is this one: the Germans don't lose at penalties. But they made a damn good fist of it.

This was a penalty shootout of high drama, but that played out more like a comedy. First there was Zaza, handed the responsibility by his manager, who brought him on the 120th minute and who didn't touch the ball before the spot kicks. Zaza's staggered run up last over five seconds (no really), before he made himself a laughing stock by blazing over. Advantage Germany. Muller then fired tamely at Buffon, squandering that advantage. It was then the Germans turn to hand Italy the advantage, as Ozil slammed his penalty against the post. Of the missed penalties, you have to say that this was the most unlucky, as it was a good penalty, and an inch or two to the left and it would have been the perfect pen. Either way, it was immaterial, as Pelle produced arguably the worst penalty of the lot. After smugly telling Neuer that he was going to chip him, he tried to sidefoot it into the corner. Zero power, zero direction and the ball rolled lamely right. To add insult to injury, Neuer would have saved it had it been on target, as he out-thought the arrogant fool. And with two pens each after four, up stepped Bonucci, who had scored in normal time. This time, it was all about Neuer. I would have been stunned, watching the shootout, if Neuer hadn't saved at least one pen, and sure enough he made a stunning save.

Game over right? Drama over right? Bastian Schweinsteiger, German captain and legend? Surely he of all people would kill the tie right? Nope. He blazed it. High, wide and ugly. Germany had the game in their hands and they threw it away in the most hilarious style. But this is the Germans. And the Germans do not lose penalties. So the pressure mounted in sudden death, as the penalties flew in. Until eventually, someone cracked. And that someone was Matteo Darmian, whose poor pen was kept out by Neuer. And that was that, as Jonas Hector found the net and Germany were through, and Italy were out.

And you have to say, the Germans probably deserved it over 120 minutes. The tactical changes by Joachim Low were odd. Interesting but odd. Rather than play Italy the way that they've been steamrollering teams this tournament, a tactic that I felt sure would pay dividends, they instead catered to their opponents, matched their formation, went to three at the back and killed the game. It's a credit to the Germans that the Italians, whilst as stoic at the back as traditionally, on the ball looked lost, sloppy, all over the place. With an hour gone, and Italy defending as you'd expect Italy to do, and Germany controlling the game, you'd figure that this would be a 0-0, or at most have one goal in it.

My personal theory is that Low's plan was to kill the game, neuter Italy and to say, if either team is scoring in this game, then it's more likely to be us than you. And so it appeared, as the Germans produced the game's only moment of quality, Gomez's excellent run and pass down the left releasing Hector, who found Ozil to slam home. And from there, the Germans kicked on and it looked like they would win comfortably. Gomez once again found himself in, but Chiellini was able to capitalise on a poor first touch and get a foot in, albeit forcing a save from his own goalkeeper.

But if the Germans produced the game's moment of magic, they also produced its moment of utter stupidity, as Jerome Boateng messed up horribly, with his hands in the air, the ball hit them, stonewall pen, easily dispatched by Bonucci. After that, penalties seemed inevitable. And we all know what happens when you take the Germans to penalties...

France 5-2 Iceland

I'll be honest, this was a bit of a surprise. Maybe it's because Iceland were overhyped, having not played a single good team yet in this tournament (and they did look reasonably open during the group stages, even if they didn't lose any of those games). Maybe it's because France were being underhyped, considering how well they've done up until this point? My personal opinion is that Iceland were wiped out, emotionally and physically, by the win over England, and that France, more by chance than anything else, stumbled across their perfect combination in the 2-1 win over Ireland, which is playing Griezmann central as part of a two with Giroud (you know, the place he plays for Athletico, funny that), with Payet on the left (where he plays for West Ham, funny that). 

Either way, this wasn't a case of France and Iceland playing at their respective levels and the first half being an utter flatline. There's no doubt that France stepped their game up, with the Giroud/Griezmann partnership starting to really click and motor, with both strikers scoring before the break, and Payet continuing his fine form this tournament on the left, scoring a lovely goal of his own. Payet, Giroud and Griezmann now have ten goals between them, as Giroud's lovely sidefoot finish and header from Payet's whipped free kick took him to three, Payet's drilled left foot shot from the edge of the box also took him to three and Griezmann's delightful break in behind and chip taking him to four. 

But at the same time, Iceland's performance levels dipped significantly from where they have been previously. Quite possibly it's because they've played the same eleven in every game, whilst France have rotated, or maybe they just ran out of steam, but Iceland were awful defensively in the first half, and France tore strips off them, even scoring from a corner. 

But, and here's the but, Iceland deserve so much credit for the way that they came back in the second half, exposing France on multiple occasions and scoring twice. 4-0 down at half time, this could have been very ugly, but Iceland never said die and they deserved the two consolation goals that they scored. 

And they've also left France's alarmingly poor defence with a problem, and a question. Do they stick with the 4-4-2 that worked so well in this game, with Pogba and Matuidi holding in the absence of the suspended Kante? In which case does Kante come in for Matuidi? Or do they revert back to the more ineffectual but solid 4-3-3 and slot Kante back into the midfield? For me, France have to resist the urge to stick with the 4-4-2. Yes, it's been easily their best attacking formation, but they conceded twice against Iceland and looked dangerously open without Kante. If they try to outplay Germany, then they will lose. Quite possibly very badly. They need to revert to the 4-3-3 and try to get some traction in the midfield, or they will be overrun. But then the danger of that is how they score against a rock solid German defence. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. It might seem trite to pick holes in such an accomplished attacking performance, but then Belgium did the same thing to Hungary and I could see their downfall in that game too, so we'll see.

Either way, France were damned impressive. Iceland, congratulations on an incredible tournament, but it's over. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Murray went hard. And won fast.
• So did Federer. The top seeds cruising. 
• Speaking of top seeds, how about Serena eh?
• You have to laugh at Nico Rosberg. Moron.
• And Cavendish is on fire in Le Tour.