Italia!!

118 minutes of scoreless soccer between host country Germany and Italy ended in one of the most spectacular finishes you'll ever see, with the Italians scoring two brilliant goals in the last 2 minutes of overtime to finally shut up the German fans.

Just as GVB's Mom drifted through the TV room to comment on how boring soccer was (this from a woman who watches every Mariners game of the season...yawn), Grosso put a perfect left footed shot into the side netting, and GVB almost knocked the coffee table over during his "GOAL!" dance.

Then, as the uninterested finally become interested, Del Piero finished it for good with a counter-attack strike.

2 - 0 Italy.

It was good to see the Germans lose. One, no one (except the Germans, of course) wants to see the host country in the finals, in their own stadium, with all their own fans. And B, the Germans were so clearly playing for the tie in the waning minutes, hoping to get to penalty kicks (where they have never lost in World Cup play and Italy has never won). I don't mind ties in soccer as much as most Americans do, but I definitely do not like watching a team TRY to tie when they could be trying to win.

Oh, and three, the German style of play is so decidedly Eastern European (read: boring) that the games themselves are torturous to watch. German club soccer is technically perfect and endlessly boring. The Italians, the Brazilians, the Portuguese, even the French put some flare into the game.

And no matter who wins between France and Portugal on Wednesday, next Sunday's final will be fast-paced and physical. I say Portugal advances but loses to Italy in the final, 2-1, in overtime. If I was a betting man. Which I am.

Oh and by the way, cheers to FIFA for having the most sensible overtime rules in professional sports. I still would favor a play until someone wins system (except that it would kill the players), but getting rid of the Golden Goal (hello NFL?) was the right choice.