In SportsOlogy's eyes, the picture above is as good as a video of puppies playing, or of an infant smiling for the first time. It brings unfettered joy to our hardened souls, because watching the English fail is like witnessing the Empire fall all over again. England lost to Italy in the quarterfinals of Euro 2012, 0-0 (4-2 PKs), and the look of utter heartbreak on the faces of the England national team after their defeat was sealed on penalty kicks, their traditional international nemesis, was enough to keep us smiling all day.
Italy certainly deserved the win thanks to their dominance of the second half and in spite of Mario Balotelli's determination to shoot every time he touched the ball in extra time. As soon as the whistle blew, indicating penalties, English haters everywhere felt a wellspring of confidence begin overflowing within them. The durance of England's futility in penalty shootouts is fairly impressive, actually. In major international tournaments, England has won only 17% of penalty shootouts, and even though the data set is relatively limited, suffice it to say that England's penalty problems have become something of a trope in international soccer.
ANYWHO. Both of the Asheys (Young and Cole) missed their shots, with Young's clattering off the crossbar and Cole's easily saved by Gigi Buffon. Andrea Pirlo came through with a ballsy chip -- love that -- and Montolivo's early miss turned out to be irrelevant. Italy move on to play Germany in the semifinals, and England return home, where they belong.
Here's the entire penalty shootout. Pirlo and his hair deserve some kind of an award.
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