Expect the Unexpected..... as the semifinals commence.....

Guys, i'm fed up... fed up repeating the word 'unbelievable'. But as the world's second largest football carnival shifts into top gear with the semifinals; you really have to prepare yourself to expect the unexpected....

In another major upset, Luiz Aragonis' Spain have ousted world champions & hot favourites Roberto Donadoni's Italy from the tournament beating them 4-2 in penalty shootout in the quarterfinals yesterday to set up a mouth watering semifinal clash with dark horses Russia.
In a boring game that was marked only by long balls & lack of clinical finishing, both teams had enough chances to win but both Luca Toni & David Villa, the top scorer of the tournament, were terribly wasteful up front. Though it was the Spanish who had more of the ball & created more chances, the Italian defence was equal to the task. Cesc Fabregas & Xavi Alonso constantly moved the ball to Fernando Torres in the forward line but he was well marked throughout the game by Christian Panucci who did his job really well. Italians really missed the spark of Andrei Pirlo who was suspended for the game & his replacement Wilfred Aquilani couldn't supply that extra punch that Pirlo often provided.
With the sore being goalless after full time, the game went into extra time where the Italians missed quite a few good chances. Cameronaesi & Grosso came painfully close to clinching the victory but their shots lacked conviction. On the other end , Sergio Ramos rattled the crossbar once.But neither team was willing to go out & risk the chance of being surprised on the counterattack. And after 120 minutes, it was time for the test of nerves & character- penalty shootout.
Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had won every shootout he had been a part of, but tonight it was not to be. Instead, it was the Iker Casillas show all around. Both Villa & Grosso converted their spot kicks for their respective teams. Italy's second penalty by Daniele De Rossi was brilliantly tipped away by Casillas while Carsola converted his penalty to give Spain the edge. Marco Senna was spot on for Spain with their third kick & so was Cameronaesi for Italy. With Spain leading 3-2, Daniela Guiza blasted his shot way over to surrender the advantage but Casillas stopped Italy's penalty by De Nattali with a spectacular dive to keep it still at 3-2 Spain with only a kick to spare. And Cesc Fabregas calmly slotted in the last kick to clinch it 4-2 for the Spanish Armada who reached only their second ever euro semifinals.

So the semifinal lineup is as follows:

GERMANY v/s TURKEY

SPAIN v/s RUSSIA

Don' t even dream about missing these spectacular encounters..........
And prepare to Expect The Unexpected.................