Like Italy or loathe them, that was a beautiful goal by Grosso in the 119th minute. I thought the referee, Benito Archundia, did a great job keeping things clean while letting the game flow. Watching him waving at an Italian player early to get up after a sort of dive was a perfect warning that it wouldn’t be tolerated. Whatever Italy’s reputation for diving, they played an excellent match as did Germany.

I hate it for Germany – that’s a dagger through the heart with time expiring. However, I’m glad the goal came without controversy and was an example of why we call it the beautiful game. Bending the ball around the keepers outstretched hands to catch the inside of the post was a thing of beauty.

I won’t bore you with a recap, as you can find many sites with lots of coverage of the match. Suffice to day I agree with Bitter and Blue, this was one of, if not the, best match of the cup so far.