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Italy Comes Agonizingly Close in Euro 2016 Exit to Germany
Published: July 3, 2016
The quarterfinal match between Italy and Germany had been hailed as worthy of being the final of the 2016 UEFA European Championship, and the game lived up to its hype. The two teams waged a pitched battle at the Stade de Bordeaux in the mold of some of the classics.
It took 120 minute to try to separate them, but all efforts to do so were in vain. The score was locked at 1-1 when referee Viktor Kassai blew his whistle for the final time—but that was only the beginning. The standard five-round shootout wasn't enough to determine a winner, either. After a European Championship-record nine rounds, Germany won 6-5, eliminating Italy from a major tournament for the first time.
Italy went into the game having already exceeded expectations. Many pundits regarded Antonio Conte's team as the worst Italy would ever field at a major tournament. There was no proven goalscorer, and injuries to Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti in the months before the competition severely crippled the midfield.
The Azzurri were going to have to lean on Juventus' BBC defense. Made up of Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini and backed up by another B in legendary goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon, still playing at top level at age 38, they are one of the best defensive units in the game and have played together for six years at the club level. If they could keep teams out long enough, they could steal a goal at the other end and then hold out to win.
Expectations were such that scraping their way into the knockout rounds would have been considered a success. What they got was beyond what any fan could have hoped for.
Without high-level talent beyond his defense, Conte needed to rely on tactics to cause opponents trouble—and boy did he ever. He comprehensively outcoached Belgium's Marc Wilm...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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