Ole Espana!
The Spaniards took the bull by the horns and converted their jinx to jubilation, with a 4-2 quarter-final penalty shoot-out victory over Italy, finally laying the ghost of 22 June to rest. The hero of the night was goalkeeper Casillas, who saved two spot-kicks to set up Fabregas to convert the winning penalty.
Before this, Spain have been forced into a penalty shoot-out on 22 June in quarter-finals at major tournament and their nerves had failed them on those occassions.
Those three painful penalty losses:
- To Belgium at the 1986 World Cup;
- To England at Euro96;&
- To South Korea at the 2002 World Cup.
In the end, Spain progress into the semis against exciting Russia. They will have the chance to lay to rest another ghost as Russia’s coach Guss Hiddink was in charge of South Korea, the team that did them in at the 2002 World Cup.
[...] and big match experience but the Spaniards have style and depth in their team and after after getting a few monkeys off their back in this tournament, they are ready to banish 24 years of hurt and underachievement. I’m [...]