Was it a lucky or brave Italy? by Sandro Micallef

Seems smiles are back on the faces of the Italian players and Coach Donadoni. Smiles are back also on Matarese's and Abete's faces after they managed to reach the quarter finals of the EURO 2008.

They managed to win 2-0 against mighty France..... but they won against a depleted side who played for more than half of the game with 10 men. Would the italians have beaten the French if Frank Ribery was not forced out of action after injury after just 9 minutes? Italy was lucky to have Toni up front a player that scored tens of goals in the Bundesliga but none so far in Austria-Switzerland. The Bayern player was still very good up front winning many fouls and managing to control that long through ball of Pirlo with his stretch leg forcing the French central defender to hack him down in the area..... penalty, red card and early shower for the unfortunate Abidal.

At the end it was a well deserved win by the Azzurri who managed to secure a quarter final berth but they now face Villa, Torres, Casillias and co. By the way tomorrow morning Donadoni will surely send a thank you post card to his AC Milan team mate Marco Van Basten... He will not call him personally as suggested by a RAI reporter yesterday in the pre-match press briefing...!!

Looking forward for the Quarter Finals. Teams are gearing up!

Sandro