Italy humble Germany to advance to final

Italy’s Mario Balotelli guided his team to advance to the final of the Euro Cup 2012 on Friday.

Italy defeated Germany 2-1 in the second semi-final match through goals from Balotelli in the first half of the match while Mesut Ozil scored for Germany in second half stoppage time.

Despite Germany’s strong start, Italy dominated in the early 20th minute through man of the match Balotelli. Balotelli smartly converted the pass from Antonio Cassano into a goal through header.

Italy played defensively soaking up the German’s pressure and mainly hit back on the counter-attack.The Italians scored another goal in counter attack in 36th minute while the German defense was caught out of position. Balotelli took quickly towards penalty area in counter attack and converted his strike into a goal.

In the second half, Germany’s Marco Reus attempts were saved by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Likewise, Miroslav Klose attempts against Italy also went in vain as his efforts sail above the crossbar.

Finally, German’s got bit luck as they were awarded with a penalty in the second half stoppage time and Mesut Ozil scored a consolation goal.

The Italians now will take on Spain in the epic battle for the right to be called the Champions of Europe and a berth in next summer’s Confederation's Cup in Brazil (a necessary warm-up for the 2014 World Cup). The final match will be played at the Kiev Olympic Stadium in the Ukraine on Sunday night.

Spain has never defeated Italy in regulation of a major tournament. Their last competitive match was their first game of the Euro Cup 2012 in which both teams settled for a 1-1 tie. In the 2008 Euro Cup, Italy and Spain went to penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in regulation and extra time, reports Reuters. nepalnews.com