Italy vs. France Live Blog.....Now With Less Headbutt

But headbutt was the only reason I watched the first time!!

Where can a guy get more headbutt around here??

Headbutt - still one of my favorite oxymorons.

Franck Ribery's tournament will come to an end it looks like, after a horrific ankle twist.

Italy have had the better of the chances so far, Christian Panucci's header forced a save from Gregory Coupet, and Luca Toni's breakaway saw his shot go wide.

It's a giveaway, Di Rossi loses it on a lazy pass, now Govou or Karim Benema, who sends it in for France but it's away by Perotta.

Another ball towards the far post for Thierry Henry and it's out of play for a goal kick. In the rematch of the 2006 World Cup Final, no score still and they can't afford to have a draw.

Meanwhile, Romania and the Netherlands are also scoreless, hold on, a good touch for LUCA TONI!!!!!!! AND HE IS TAKEN DOWN!!!! PENALTY TO ITALY!!!!!!!!!

Eric Abidal took him down, it's a stupid foul, it's the last man, and he has been sent off!!! It's a red card!

Now Andrea Pirlo can open the scoring, it's Pirlo against Coupet.....and Pirlo scores!!!!!! VIVA ITALIA!!!! After 25 minutes, France are down to 10 men, they have lost Franck Ribery to injury, and now Eric Abidal is off, and they are down 1-0.

And France have just used their 2nd substitution, Samir Nasri is off, and Jean-Alain Boumsong is on! It's all gone wrong for France, they only have 1 substitution and have 10 men.

Pirlo sends it in! The Italians are in front! Can I just say it is a pleasure to listen to Andy Gray talk about soccer?

Perotta, here is Italy, and he lays it off for DE ROSSI!!!!!!! Just over the bar, France have come undone in the span of minutes.

Backheel by Casano, but Italy are dispossessed, France are at walking pace while Italy is running wild, and Toni with his back to goal!!!!!!!! Oh my it's just wide, what a chance.....

Panucci, it's Zambrotta, now it's held in the center of the pitch, Panucci to Zambrotta, Toni making his run again!!!! Could not get a good volley on the ball, and France survive again.

There is no answer for Luca Toni, France are surviving here. Oh no, they've given it away and Toni fires!!!!! Oh just wide, and he was onside.

Henry with a great chance...maybe he needs some support from Tiger and Roger?

France are losing the ball so easily, but it's Benzema again, for Henrt, Govou trying to get a cross, France are looking for a corner kick and so are their fans but to no avail.

As things stand, Italy are through to the quarterfinals. Free kick given to France, and the ball for Francois Clerc is chested down, nope, out of play.

Here is Gattuso's ball in to the box......er, that's about the worst cross ever.

Henry with it, and he has a chance to score!!!! Ooh it goes agonizingly wide, and now this game has opened up.

France are stringing passes together but the final ball is lacking quality, Italy on the attack now, Gattuso trying to lay the ball out for Di Rossi but to no avail.

Henry with it, Clerc out wide back for Henry but away by Italy. It's for Henry again, but it's cleared for an Italian throw after Zambrotta sends it away.

Great, Benzema's pass to Evra goes out of play with nobody around. Now 37 minutes gone, France have had chances to score, but instead have 10 men and are down 1-0.

Govou, Benzema, and he's lose it again, but Italy give it away, Henry goes for goal but is taken down! Free kick in a dangerous spot for France.

A clear tackle by Gattuso catches the heel of Henry, bad tackle there.

Now who shall take the free kick for France? Henry and Benzema are there....

5 in the wall, it is Benzema! Hit the wall, gets a 2nd chance that goes wide!

Not a good free kick, and a wasted chance for France (hey that rhymes).

ssr...when i was your age, i worked

Still no score in Romania/Netherlands, Henry trying to turn, loses the ball, France look really flat tonight. No clean passing, Italy's defense has really improved after their awful shows against Romania and the Netherlands.

Perhaps being down 1-0 is not a bad thing for France, they do have 10 men and they are quite capable of scoring 2 goals, Thierry Henry of course has 45 goals in international play, Benzema, and no one home for the cross.

Just 3 minutes to go until halftime, what does Raymond Domenech's side do now? They have to score twice and hope Italy do not score anymore or else they are done.

Di Rossi making a great run, still going! Fouled at the edge of the penalty area by Jeremy Toulalan.

Grosso is over the ball, the hero of the World Cup, GOES FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!! HE HIT THE POST!!!!!!!!! It's away by France, oh what a chance, and now a yellow card for Andrea Pirlo after a harsh challenge on one of the French players, and how big is that? Pirlo will miss the next match if they advance.

Perotta is down for Italy as we will see plenty of stoppage time for sure.

Perotta is off the pitch, so for now it is 10 vs. 10.

There will be 3 minutes of stoppage time to be played says the 4th official. Benzema with a nice move, Henry to Clerc who centers it but no one is home yet again.

Toni upends Boumsong, quick restart.

Good ball by Evra but is away, and now play will be stopped as Evra is down.

Free kick for France, last chance of the half, and Benzema was there but it's headed away and it is halftime. A thrilling first half, a controversial first half, Pirlo scores the lone goal, Grosso hit the woodwork on the free kick.

Italy have had the luxury of a man advantage for 20 minutes, Luca Toni has gotten free on several occasions and quite frankly should've scored at least 2 goals in this half.

France once again show no great desire to attack, and that's troubling because they have to SCORE if they want to stay alive. Well now they are down a man, down a goal, and they will have to put up a comeback to keep their hopes alive. Halftime in Bern sees:

Italy 1 France 0

Also, as things stand, Italy are through to face Spain in the quarterfinals. Because halftime in Zurich of an uneventful first half sees:

Romania 0 Netherlands 0

Holy crap, Jamele Hill said rooting for the Celtics was like saying Hitler was a victim.

Not a good career move...

Hill's writing has to involve race or something like that in there and she tries too hard to be controversial.

Her next article:

Why do the white chess pieces always get to make the first move and not the black ones?

Sorry, forgot the "advocate" part.

2nd half underway....

The last time France lost to Italy in regulation was 1978...wow.

Fabio Grosso, looking for Perotta but his first touch lets him down and it's a goal kick.

Tomorrow is the last set of group games and then the knockout stage begins on Thursday, with one of them on ABC this Saturday.

I'm still waiting for the first real hard foul of this match, as in no headbutts, but more like some fisticuffs.

Here comes Italy, Cassano goes for goal but it's away by France.

BENZEMA!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh he's put it high, as in a little bit over the bar, and France nearly score 5 minutes into the 2nd half.

Meanwhile Zambrotta's cross is gathered by Coupet.

Italy's defense seems much improved now, no more silly backpasses that lead to goals, they unfortunately are still not in the driver's seat as far as advancing into the quarterfinals.

France has a go and Henry's shot has no power and GiGi Buffon comfortable saves it.

Andy Gray talks about basketball as Luca Toni's ball is stopped by Coupet, aged 35 and possibly playing his last game in international play.

Here is Thierry Henry, he'll shoot it again, and Buffon handles it again.

France definitely getting their chances 8 minutes into the 2nd half, very good attacking play, but someone other than Henry has to score (let alone get a chance on goal).

Goal Update:

The Netherlands have scored! It's Huntelaar for the Dutch, and the Italians rejoice! Now that should excite the French as well since they know that 2 goals and they are definitely through.

Luca Toni looking to receive the good ball but Coupet is there to get it away from him before the French go 2-0 down and out of the tournament. Cassano is taken down 30 meters away from goal and it is a free kick.

Who will take the free kick? Di Rossi takes it and DEFLECTED IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITALY HAVE SCORED ON AN OWN GOAL AND THE FRENCH ARE OUT OF EURO 2008!!!!!!!

France look lost now, they would have to score 3 times and hope Romania don't score 2 goals themselves to advance.

Just 22 minutes to go in a 2-0 match, and Gattuso is down with what looks like a leg cramp.......

"Henry is getting a blow for his troubles." - Adrian Healey

Okay, I've hopped over to Netherlands/Romania and frankly I'm glad that this is on Classic because it is borrrrring.

Back to Italy/France, the Italians continue to run the French ragged, and I think it's safe to say that they have surrendered this war.

Italy are just playing keepaway for the last 13 minutes or so, the fans don't like it for France, I think this is quite clear it's over now.

Raymond Domenech is surely gone with a loss here. Here are some French players that are likely to retire before the 2010 World Cup:

Claude Makelele

Patrick Vieira

Gregory Coupet

Lillian Thuram

They are all in their late 30s and are frequent starters.

In the mean time....

I only need a few more teams so we can have our mock draft, so PLEASE sign up if you don't have a 2nd team.

Who cares if Italy can't beat France in soccer. They kick major ass in food! French food sucks

Camoranesi is onside, it takes a deflection and it goes for a corner kick.

It goes to Cassano!!! And Coupet handles it before a possible 2nd own goal in the competition.

And note that this is the first own goal of Euro 2008.

Just 4 minutes to go, Italy are through now!

Here are the matchups for the quarterfinals:

Portugal vs. Germany

Turkey vs. Croatia

Spain vs. Italy

Netherlands vs. Sweden/Russia

It's Luca Toni! Just wide, France having their last hurrah, but offsides is given and that is it!!!!!

France will finish last, Romania has lost to the Netherlands who win the group with the full 9 points, Italy advance in the Group of Death.

Goals by Andrea Pirlo and an own goal by Thierry Henry finish off the poor French, who did not get any good attack going and score just 1 goal while conceding 6 in their campaign.

A well played game by Italy, they were the beneficiary of Frank Ribery's injury as well as the sending off of Eric Abidal after the poor challenge on Luca Toni that set up the penalty kick, but they really dominated the game, and will play Spain on Sunday at 2:55 PM ET on ESPN.

That's it from me SSR, the final scores from Zurich and Bern see:

Italy 2 France 0 and Netherlands 1 Romania 0.

So there you have it. Italy has advanced.

IMO, Romania was the better teams, as they tied with both France and Italy, and lost to Netherlands, who will win it IMO, with the score being only 2-0. The two former World Cup Finals teams got raped... 4-1 and 3-0.

Both games were good, but in the end, Italy pulled through and got the only win out of the 3 teams who needed it.

Yes

Ruud Gullit, coach of LA Galaxy, just said Julie Foudy is a good analyst and has a lot of knowledge. I think he's either hitting the bottle, or hitting her.

Oh well, I'm off to continue to prove why Jim Brown is better than Marshall Faulk......