England suffered another penalty shootout heartache while a dominant Italy deservedly went through to the semi-finals after an absorbing quarterfinal match ended 0-0 after extra-time.
Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed the penalties for England, who have now crashed out of major tournaments 6 times via the shootout. Outplayed for much of the match, England looked like they could pull it off in the shootout, when they took the lead after Ricardo Montolivo sent his spot-kick wide.
However, Young and Cole saw their penalties hit the crossbar and saved by Gianluigi Buffon respectively, while Italy kept their nerve in the final moments. Alessandro Diamanti smashed home the final spot-kick to hand Italy a 4-2 victory and a match against Germany in the semi-finals on Thursday in Warsaw.
All the pre-match predictions of a tight and cagey affair were blown out of the water in the first five minutes, with both sides having brilliant opportunities to open the scoring.
First, Italy went close, when Danielle de Rossi's swerving left-footed striker struck the post with Joe Hart beaten. Immediately on the other side, England should have scored. James Milner's low cross found its way to Glen Johnson after a couple of deflections, but the Liverpool right-back could not sort his feet out, eventually striking a weak shot, which was kept out by Buffon.
The surprisingly open game continued, with Wayne Rooney, who scored the winner against Ukraine, sending his header wide and on the other end, Mario Balotelli's hesitation in front of goal, allowing John Terry to make a tackle and snuff out the chance.
Italy were dominating possession while England looked threatening whenever they could muster up a counter-attack. Andrea Pirlo was controlling the game for Italy, the pass-master spraying the ball at will and making the England defense work tirelessly.
Italy should have taken the lead at the beginning of the first half. However, De Rossi smashed his volley wide from just four yards out, to the disbelief of the player and the supporters.
Pirlo was in complete control now, as Italy looked to break the deadlock with a barrage of attacks. First, Terry denied Balotelli with a last-ditch header at the far post, before Hart made a fantastic double save -- repelling De Rossi's long-ranger and also denying Balotelli on the rebound.
England manager Roy Hodgson introduced Andy Carroll and Theo Walcott, in a bid to change the tempo of the game, but Italy remained in utter command. However, England's defense held firm as the game went into extra-time.
Diamanti went closest, when his cross-shot caught Hart off-guard, but to the relief of the Manchester City goalkeeper, the ball struck the post. Italy thought they finally had the goal they deserved, when Antonio Nocerino headed in from two yards out. However, the assistant referee, correctly, ruled the goal out for offside.
The match went into penalties, and Italy won the lottery to advance into the semis.
England will return home to lick their wounds after another penalty shootout elimination, but Hodgson will have plenty of positives to take home after the Three Lions' best showing in a major tournament for years.
