Penalty shoot out

Well, we lost again: not that we deserved to win. And Italy have spared us a greater humiliation - as it would have been if we had had to meet Germany this coming Thursday. We've been enjoying the other matches, without the habitual edge-of-the-seat stuff that goes with an England game. And they have all been played in what seems like a good spirit, give or take a few theatrical dives. Of course, the logistics of a tournament straddled between two countries as vast as Poland and the Ukraine makes the mind boggle. Our local paper reports one fan to be flying out for more or less every match (and back afterwards - presumably for a very bleary-eyed next day in the office). He'll now be spared any further need to guzzle carbon - this time round at least.

Meanwhile, on our back lawn this afternoon, William and Laurie were pre-enacting that Alessandro Diamanti/Joe Hart moment.