Italy is out of EURO 2008, losing to Spain at PKs.

Looking back to the last twenty years, it looks like PKs have been a staple of Italy's International results, either good or bad.

Italy lost the 1990 World Cup semifinals against Argentina, the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil, the 1998 World Cup 1/4 finals against France, and now the EURO 2008 1/4 finals against Spain. On a positive side, Italy had won the EURO 2000 semifinals against Holland and most recently the 2006 Word Cup final against France.

Looking at all this with an analytical eye, I can see that negative outcomes outnumber the positives by a ratio of 2 to 1, but nevertheless, PK is always a lottery. Quite frankly, I am not too sure that this end of all things, when it comes to soccer matches that require a winner, is fair and objective.

I guess that we, soccer fans, will continue to have our heart broken or our spirit fly high for many years to come for I don't see any imminent changes at the FIFA horizon.

It will take a few weeks for my heart to mend..... until the next time.

Have great summer everyone!