Terrific tense football game - the amazing amazing ball control of Spain met the defensive wall of Germany. Spain dominated possession and chances, but couldn’t put the game away until the 73rd minute thanks to the thumping head of Spanish defensive maestro Puyol. Germany never seemed to really wake up in attack, and were so harried on the ball all game that they never got their flow on.

Other than the Spanish passing, one of the most satisfying things was there wasn’t a foul blown until the 26th minute. And hardly many more for the rest of the game, including a total of zero yellow cards. Both sides either had a gentleman’s agreement not to foul and dive, or the stars just aligned right.

Unfortunately The Netherlands have proven to be the masters of the touch dive, so the Final will probably be less clean, but here’s hoping.