mark.k.:

I can see all those criticising Ashley Young a few weeks ago hoping he will win England a penalty now...

were they really criticizing him or are you sure they weren't just highlighting the simple truth that he cant keep possession to save his life? btw im not slating him i like him but he has arguably been Englands worst player this tournament and even ignoring the tournament i am of the belief that his marvelous goals and odd good cross blur what is equally most important,which is general play - touch, control, ball retention, hold up, vision, not fading out of games, things of which he displays enormous deficiency's.

I can see all those criticising Ashley Young a few weeks ago hoping he will win England a penalty now...

Balotelli skates by on self belief. Hes a dog s h i t player tbh.

Someone please take Johnson and Milner off. That right side is just embarrassing.

England will sneak a 2-1 win and the match will be overshadowed by a penalty or goal being disallowed.

yes we can beat the italians, weve not got a very good record against them in recent years but there is something about this english team, defence is playing better, parker looks like he would die for the cause, gerrard is injury free and playing well and above all there is no emile heskey. I was pleased the heads didnt go down when sweden went into the lead, they fought back. Yes we can beat the italians, the Germans tho thats a diff matter !!..... hmmm i'll make up my mind about that one if we beat italy and how we beat italy.

mb28mbrook:

No.

All the England fans (except a few of us) are getting carried away again...

Happens all the time ey Brook. England scrape a few decent, emphasis on decent, together and apparently they can win the whole thing. We saw what Germany did with an even more defensive team in Greece. IF england DO get past italy which is a 50-50 imo, the germans will wipe the floor with you lot like in the world cup. They seem like the team to beat, i'd bet them over spain. Spain have just been passing sideways and backwards for 90% of the games.

Ask Barrak Obama and he'll tell you YES WE CAN and I can tel you YES WE WILL

Anyone can beat anyone in all honesty we saw that with Greece in 04. This england side is pretty even with italy. No offence to either but neither of them are that great but then again there is a mysteriousness about this Italy side as we don't know how they will set up and play. On the other hand we know exactly what England are going to do, makes them predictable. I'm betting 1-1 Draw, 1-1 Extra-time, Italians to win 4-2 on penalties with John Terry running away from the ball coz his too scared he will do the same as in the CL FInal against us haha.

England can beat Italy......sorry but the Italians are not that good at the moment. Beating Germany will be next to impossible but Italy is beatable.

England has never won a game convinsingly. Although Italy is just about as bad, they are tactically superior and better than most English players when coming down to PK. Do you see Germany, Spain, or even Portugal, struggle in their campaign....

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

They absolutely can beat Italy, the poms have match-defining mistakes in them though...you never know.

Yes I think they can........But then it's Germany

I think England have been lucky to get this far,their performances have not been spectacular more often or not their performances have been somewhat stale,and the defending at times has been questionable,i think the "bigger" teams Italy,Spain,Portugal,Germany will expose England's weaknesses,and thus i think they will struggle against Italy,though could surprise us and put in a good performance, that and "Mad Man" Balotelli gets sent off.

In all honesty though i can't see anything other then an Italy win,i just hope the Media do not go looking for someone to blame,but you know that is always the case with the media.