Klinsmann: Spain win over Italy would make them team of century

If Spain beat Italy in the final of Euro 2012 then they are going to be the team of the century.

Winning three consecutive major tournaments would show an incredible hunger and character to go with the fantastic talent in their squad.
It would be an unbelievable achievement for them to win a second successive European Championship to go with their World Cup triumph two years ago and, in my opinion, they are still the team to beat.
This Spain side is going through their toughest process because, having been so successful, they have set their standard so high and people are always expecting them to match it.

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Euro 2012 highlights: Germany 1-2 Italy

They really deserve the biggest compliments over the last few years for the style of play they have developed.
But the important thing is they have also learned how to finish things off by winning tournaments too. You have to give so much in order to cross the line and win again and again.
There is so much I admire about Vicente del Bosque's side, like their movement off the ball and the way they recover the ball so well when they lose it.
They have been criticised for being boring during this tournament but I think that is only because they are not playing exactly the way people want to see them play.
That drives people to be critical, but I don't think the Spanish players deserve to get any negative comments.
I love Spain's style of play, even if I would like to see more strikers in their starting line-up. We have to remember, though, that this is what Del Bosque is doing at this specific moment, he did not play that way in South Africa at the World Cup or during Euro 2008.

Previous meetings

• 1934: Italy 1-1 Spain, World Cup quarter-final
• 1934: Italy 1-0 Spain, World Cup quarter-final replay
• 1980: Spain 0-0 Italy, European Championship group stage
• 1988: Italy 1-0 Spain, European Championship group stage
• 1994: Italy 2-1 Spain, World Cup quarter-final
• 2008: Spain 0-0 Italy, (Spain won 4-2 on penalties), European Championship quarter-final
• 2012: Spain 1-1 Italy, European Championship group stage

The key to winning games is to create chances and they still create chances using that 4-6-0 formation, which is kind of scary.

Obviously, I want to see them use a striker like Fernando Torres to lead their attack because I was a striker myself but they could win the tournament playing without one, which would just leave me speechless.
Italy will not make it easy for them, however, and it should be a very exciting final because they are two technically highly gifted teams. I am looking forward to watching it in Kiev.
Naturally, I am very disappointed that Italy are in the final, not Germany, but the fact is that Germany were beaten by an Italian side which was better than them.
Despite that defeat, I am very confident about Germany's future. They are going to be in very good shape for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Reaching the last four at Euro 2012 means we have been at that stage or better for the last four major tournaments, and the young talent coming through like Marco Reus, Andre Schurrle and Mario Gotze is very encouraging.

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Fabregas penalty puts Spain into final

I am proud of the part I played in building this Germany side and their style of play when I was manager from 2004 to 2006.
And I am so happy with the way it has progressed since then, especially now with more and more talent coming through the academies at the Bundesliga clubs and making it into the national team.
I was part of the beginning of that whole development and installed the coaching staff like Joachim Loew who are involved today.
Now I am looking at it from the outside and I am delighted for them.
Against Italy, the team hit the wall but they will continue to grow and mature and will be even better next time.
To become a great team, they will have to win a trophy, but the future still lies with them.

Jurgen Klinsmann was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan

Euro 2012: Xavi says Spain have a 'great opportunity' to make history

Xavi says Spain have a "great opportunity to make history" as the reigning European and world champions aim for a third tournament triumph.

The Barcelona midfielder is desperate to write his name into the history books, but knows Spain face a difficult task against Italy in Kiev.
"We have achieved great things with the national team," said Xavi.

Spain's path to the final

• Group C:
• Spain 1-1 Italy
• Spain 4-0 Rep of Ireland
• Spain 1-0 Croatia
• Quarter-finals:
• Spain 2-0 France
• Semi-finals:
• Spain 0-0 Portugal (Spain win 4-2 on penalties)

"We're in a great generation of players and we have a great opportunity to make history. This is our chance."

Having defeated Germany four years ago, Spain, who overcame the Netherlands to win the World Cup in 2010, will become the first team to retain the European Championship if they beat Italy on Sunday.
Even more important, victory over the Azzurri would make them the first country to win three major international tournaments in a row - and Xavi says Spain are determined to show they are still the team to beat.
"We really want to do well and show people that this team is still hungry to win and that our football is good," he added.
Xavi admitted he was a fan of the approach introduced by coach Italy coach Cesare Prandelli and singled out the Azzurri's Andrea Pirlo for praise.
"A few years ago, football was showing tendencies of becoming more physical and the games more condensed," he said.
"We were very lucky that, although (Spain's) footballers were slightly weaker physically, they were more talented technically.
"That's what we want to do against Italy - play a spectacular game.

Analysis

Jurgen Klinsmann BBC pundit and former Germany coach

"Spain have been criticised for being boring during this tournament but I think that is only because they are not playing exactly the way people want to see them play. That drives people to be critical, but I don't think the Spanish players deserve to get any negative comments."

• Read the rest of Jurgen Klinsmann's column

"Players like Pirlo are playing in a similar way, so I'm very happy that the tendency in football now is to try to play and try to attack."

Meanwhile, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque says his side will have to play to their maximum if they are to have any chance of making history in the final.
"We cannot look back, we cannot think history influences anything," he said.
"Italy are four-time world champions. We were in the same group, have similar star players and both had to come through penalties."
Del Bosque, a former Real Madrid player and manager, was in charge of the Spain team that won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, succeeding Luis Aragones, who coached the team to Euro 2008 success.
Spain's starting XI on Sunday is likely to include at least five players schooled at Barcelona - Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
And Del Bosque added that the national team had learnt to translate their success at club level to the international game.
"Our success is not a coincidence and has its foundations in many things - in the structure of our football, in the academies, and in better coaches," Del Bosque told the Spanish football federation website.
"The Spanish clubs are devoting themselves to training youngsters.
"Before we would travel abroad to look at the academies in France, Russia, Germany. Now many of these countries come to see what we are doing in Spain.
"We have put a certain complex regarding Europe behind us and right now we are at the same level as any country in our vicinity."

Titanic was high-tech marvel of its time

Computerworld - When the RMS Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, on April 10, 1912, she was considered the ultimate passenger liner -- unparalleled in luxury, size and technology.

This is thought to be the last known image of the Titanic as it set sail for New York. The photo was one of eight pictures auctioned by Christie's in London in 2003. (Image: Reuters)

The legendary British ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank hours later in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, clearly wouldn't be considered a high-tech vessel today. But when the ship set sail with 2,228 passengers and crew members amid great fanfare on an April afternoon 100 years ago, the Titanic was a marvel of state-of-the-art technology that captured the world's interest.
"At the time, it was the most advanced ship," said Joseph Vadus, IEEE Life Fellow and the leader of the team that discovered the Titanic in 1985. "The crew had a lot of confidence in their ship and the technology that it had. They were bragging on how good this ship was. Trouble was unthinkable. There were people on board who were experts at different technical problems -- engineers, electricians, plumbers -- and they did their best, but their best was not enough."
The Titanic, for instance, had an electrical control panel that was 30 to 40 feet long. The panel controlled all of the fans, generators and lighting on the ship. It also controlled the condensers that turned steam back into water, along with the few machines that took salt out of ocean water to make it drinkable.
"Their electrical control panel, to us, would seem enormous, complicated and wasteful," said Tim Trower, a self-styled maritime historian who focuses his research on the Titanic. "It would be pretty primitive today. A simple desktop computer would handle everything that was down on this massive control panel."
The Titanic also had a master-and-slave setup for all of the clocks onboard. The central clock was on the bridge, and as the captain adjusted the time on that one clock, all the clocks on the ship would register the change as the ship sailed through different time zones.
There also were four elevators on the Titanic, which was fairly new technology on a ship. A few first-class cabins also had telephones, although the phone could not make ship-to-shore calls.
The crowning technical glory on the Titanic was the advanced wireless communications setup for Morse Code, which was considered the most powerful setup in use at the time.
The main transmitter was housed in what was dubbed the Marconi Room, named after Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who was known as the father of long-distance radio transmissions. The transmitter's antenna was strung between the ship's masts, some 250 feet above the ocean's surface.
Most ships of the day could transmit messages a distance of 100 to 150 miles during the day, according to Trower, a contributor to the Titanic Commutator, the Titanic Historical Society's magazine. However, the Titanic's wireless system was capable of transmitting messages for 500 miles during the day and 2,000 miles at night.
"They had the very best, the very latest in wireless equipment," Trower said. "There were only two wireless operators onboard, both young men. They were the computer geeks of the day. These guys ate, slept and breathed wireless. Think of computer nerds sitting in the basement in their underwear surfing the Internet. These were those kinds of guys. They were good at what they did, but it was still slow."

A Marconi wireless message telling of the Titanic's distress call is displayed at Bonham's auction house in New York. (Image: Reuters/Keith Bedford)

However, many people say the chief wireless operator and the wireless system, or at least how it was used, were part of a string of problems that led to the ship's tragic sinking.
According to both Vadus and Trower, passengers were so excited about their cross-sea excursion and the opportunity to send wireless messages to friends and family at home that they overwhelmed the wireless operators and the machine with personal messages. The wireless operators, inundated with messages to send, became overworked and tired.
That was going to be a critical mistake.
Around 11:30 p.m. on April 14, an operator on the SS Californian, a British steamship sailing not far from the Titanic, messaged the Titanic, warning the captain that there was ice ahead. Stressed and fatigued, Jack Phillips, the Titanic's on-duty wireless operator, angrily shot back the message, "Shut up, Shut up, I'm working Cape Race."
Phillips meant that he was busy relaying messages to a wireless station in Cape Race, Newfoundland, about 800 miles away.
The Californian didn't respond to the Titanic's distress signals because its wireless operator had gone to bed after being rebuffed about his iceberg warning.
About 10 minutes later, the Titanic's lookout spotted an iceberg 500 yards away and called out an alarm. The Titanic struck the iceberg, ripping openings in the hull along the starboard side near the bow.
Around 12:30 a.m. on April 15, less than an hour after the ship hit the iceberg, the Titanic began to sink.
The forward part of the ship's deck started to go underwater at 2:05 a.m., according to Trower. Both the bridge and the wireless room were located on the upper part of that section of the ship. The bridge went under shortly thereafter.
As the ship's bow went under, the stern rose into the air.
According to Trower, Phillips, the wireless operator, is believed to have stayed in the Marconi room, sending out distress messages as late as 2:17 a.m. when water was rushing in. Harold Bride, the second wireless operator and a survivor, later reported that he entered the wireless room and found a man trying to steal the life jacket off Phillips' back. Phillips was so engrossed in sending out distress calls that he hadn't even noticed.
The ship sank at 2:20 a.m., and Phillips was among those who perished.
Reports vary, but it's widely believed that 705 people survived the tragedy and 1,517 died. The survivors, in lifeboats, were later picked up by the RMS Carpathia.
If the Titanic had been equipped with sonar and radar technology, the tragedy would likely have not occurred. However, sonar was still in the experimental stage in 1912, and the development of radar was still more than 20 years in the future.
"Using only lookouts, there wasn't time enough to veer the ship away from the iceberg," Vadus said. "Today, they have sonar that could detect an iceberg under water, and most of the icebergs are under water. And radar could have detected it more than 100 miles away. To avoid hitting it, they would have needed to detect it a mile or two away. That would have been good. They might have been able to successfully veer away from it."
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her email address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.
Read more about Mobile and Wireless in Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Topic Center.
 

Japan Takes Command — But Don’t Tell Anyone

TOKYO – Japan’s potent but often over-looked military takes another step onto the world scene when a Japanese commander assumes one of the top posts in a major multi-national exercise scheduled to begin Friday in waters off Hawaii. Whether the folks back home consider that a good thing remains to be seen.
The RIMPAC 2012 war games are the largest naval training exercise in years, with ships, planes and troops from 22 countries, including Japan. The forces will conduct anti-submarine, missile-defense, live-fire, counter-piracy and other drills over vast stretches of the Pacific through early August.
For the first time, non-US officers will command major components of the fleet. A Japanese rear admiral, Fumiyuki Kitagawa, has been named vice commander of the Combined Task Force. That makes him second in command of a force that includes 48 ships and submarines, more than 200 warplanes and 25,000 troops.
It is the highest multi-national command for any Japanese officer since the Second World War II and represents a vote of confidence in Japan’s increasing military capability.
“This is a very significant event for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) because, for them, it is an affirmation of their capability and shows the level of trust that is being placed in them. To have any kind of actual command is something they’ve working toward for years,” says Garren Mulloy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Daito Bunka University.
Japanese officers have had various commands in bi-lateral training missions with the U.S., but never in a major multi-national event. As the second in command of RIMPAC 2012, Kitagawa will play a key role in advising and assisting the exercise commander, an American.
That experience could be invaluable as the US moves additional ships and Marines to the Asia-Pacific region in response to China’s military buildup and territorial claims. China was not invited to take part in the RIMPAC exercises, which have been held every other year since 1970; Japan has participated regularly since the 1980s.
To be sure, Kitagawa won’t be directing real combat. The RIMPAC exercises once focused on fighting fleet-sized, Cold War battles. In recent years, as more countries have joined in – each with its own language, culture and procedures – the exercise has shifted more to nuts and bolts issues: making sure everyone knows to turn right or left when they’re supposed to; when to fire missiles and when not to; how to tell enemy aircraft from friendly.
“It’s more about safety, coordination, interoperability,” says Yoji Koda, former head of the joint staff for Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, who has taken part in RIMPAC exercises. “But the opportunity itself has significance for the JSDF.”
In some respects, the appointment of a Japanese officer should not be surprising.
Although officially pacifist, Japan has one of the largest and most capable military forces in the world, with the sixth- or seventh-largest defense budget. The JMSDF in particular is designed to train and operate in tandem with the U.S. Navy. The Japanese have focused on anti-submarine and anti-mine operations since the Cold War, and by now no one is better at it. This leaves the Americans free to concentrate on carrier and amphibious operations.
“Any U.S. naval officer will tell you the JMSDF is damned good at what they do,” says Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Pacific Forum CSIS, in Honolulu.
The self-defense forces also are among the most outward-oriented elements of Japanese society.  Kitagawa, 51, commander of a JMSDF destroyer flotilla, is a fluent English-speaker, served three years as defense attaché in Australia and was a foreign affairs staff officer. Many younger officers have been educated at US service academies and war colleges, assigned to US think tanks and non-governmental agencies, regularly appear at U.S. and overseas defense seminars and symposiums, and serve in exchange assignments with US forces.
This compares with the broader Japanese society, where few can communicate in English, attendance at foreign universities is dropping and only a small minority choose to travel or work overseas.
“The JMSDF is very much internationalized and outward-looking. They are very keen to get their young people and most able officers out into the wider naval community around the world,” says Mulloy, a former officer in the British army who has studied Japanese peacekeeping operations. “The average JMSDF staff officer has a much more cosmopolitan, internationalized view than, say, the average university professor or even member of the Diet.”
The rapid deployment of 100,000 troops in response to last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and concern over aggressive moves by China, have boosted domestic support for the Japanese forces of late.  Nonetheless, mistrust runs deep.
Tokyo residents filed a lawsuit to prevent a cross-town training hike by a mere 20 soldiers earlier this year (they lost the lawsuit, but a throng of reporters and cameramen disrupted the hike).  Protesters lined the roads when a handful of tanks were transported by truck and ferry from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a mobility drill in 2011.
And while Kitagawa’s role in the RIMPAC war games has drawn little attention, so far, defense officials last month were forced to answer concerns that Japanese warships in the 2010 RIMPAC exercises might have violated restrictions against “collective defense” by participating in a gunnery exercise with foreign ships. There were no violations, officials said.
Under Japan’s restrictive peacekeeping and anti-terrorism laws, Japanese troops in most cases are not permitted to command, or come under the command of, foreign forces. The US-Japan Security Treaty provides an exception for exercises like RIMPAC 2012, which is hosted by US Pacific Command.
Nonetheless, Pacific Command was quick to issue a clarification this week that despite Kitagawa’s appointment as second in command, Japanese forces would not directly command, or be commanded by, any other forces during the exercise.
Try telling that to the folks back home.

Read more: http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/06/28/japan-takes-command-but-dont-tell-anyone/#ixzz1zAV8H4Rt

When A Chinese Student Falls In Love With New Jersey

Zhou Yinzi moved last year from China to Plainsboro, NJ. Used to dreary classes, she discovered a new world of sexy principals and crushworthy teachers, piercings and booming T-shirts. An exchange student's love letter -- to her teachers, most of all.

An American tradition: waiting for the Principal (John Rudolph Mueller)

By Zhou Yinzi*
经济观察报E.O/ Worldcrunch
PLAINSBORO - I have already decided to get my ears pierced this summer. I still remember the days when I categorically said that I’d never have my ears pierced, nor my hair permed. Well, now I realize how old-fashioned I was.
I also remember how once an American-born Chinese girl asked my mom: “Why do the teachers in China not allow kids to have their ears pierced?”
“They think it will affect the students’ learning at school,” my mother answered.
The girl was obviously very puzzled: “What does ear-piercing have to do with learning?” 
It has been only two years since I came to the United States and I realize how much my ideas have changed. I have been totally immersed in the free atmosphere of an American high school campus.
Our photography teacher is so handsome that you just drool! He has a shining smile and wonderful air. He wears loud T-shirts and has four piercings.
Our language and art teacher has seven piercings. He has so many that he almost has no ears left. He hasn’t quite got the “Pompadour hairstyle” or “Regency style hair” but his locks are certainly defying gravity! He only wears white shirts and a tie. He always has a cup of coffee in his hand; he is so cool. He lies down on the floor when he reads Romeo and Juliet in class.
The math teacher is my favorite. He wears a different tie every single day of the year. If you asked any Chinese student who would see him for the first time what he teaches, they would never guess math. He exudes a kind of sunny and youthful radiance – nothing like the math teachers I knew in China with their special air that just says: “Math ruined my childhood.”
When I learned that this amazingly cute guy is also the long-distance running coach for the girls in our school, I almost fell over! When he dressed up in a Baroque period costume for a Cosplay (Costume play), we were all charmed. We couldn’t take our eyes off of him.
The sexy principal
But you’d be wrong if you think that only the young teachers are cool in our school. The chicest are probably the older ones.
I once needed to make a video, so I asked if I could use the school’s recording studio. Our principal told me the video teacher would give me a hand.
While I waited for the teacher to come, a guy suddenly attracted my attention. He was South American looking, short in build, and wore a big black T-shirt, black trousers, with black long curly hair falling on his shoulders. I suddenly realized that he was the teacher I was waiting for.
Having met the video teacher I become really intrigued by the principal: someone who employs so many impressive teachers must be out of the ordinary herself.
Two experiences soon confirmed my feeling.
She joined us for our 11th grade party. In the bus, this principal who wears ultra-sexy clothing and talks loud and fast, flirted with the male teacher next to her all the way to the party.
Before getting off the bus, she said to the boys: “Attention please! All gentlemen please take care of your partners and assist them off the bus!”
At the prom, she was, of course, present again. She definitely does not miss out on any chance of fun.
At the prom, two DJs who looked smashingly cool played dance music. When I got home that night, I got the regular phone interview from my dad in China. “What did your teachers say at the prom?” That was the first question.
“What is the teacher supposed to say at a students’ prom?” What a weird idea, I thought.
The mad woman dancing at prom
“But isn’t it organized by your school? Aren’t the teachers supposed to say something?” I suddenly realize that my dad was logical in his thinking. If it were in China, not only the principal, but also the class teacher, and various subject teachers, as well as the class representative would all have given a speech. If that were to happen at my prom, “Let’s beat him up” would have been the audience’s first reaction.
As a matter of fact, the teachers were all dressed very elegantly to go to the prom as if they were attending an ambassador’s ball. They just walked around, chatted and ate pastries in the corridor and let us enjoy our evening.
While we were being blasted with dance music, an extremely overweight teacher squeezed through the crowd. She took up so much space that everybody had to step back. Then she started dancing like a mad woman with bare feet and her hair flying in all directions. Everybody was just thrilled! After she left after just one dance, leaving us to enjoy the frenzy.
Not only do my teachers surprise me, but they also give us warmth.
One afternoon before history class, I felt a bit sleepy so I just put my head down for a short nap. When the bell rang, the history teacher came over. She gently stroked my back and said “Tired? I understand. It must have been tiring to have classes the whole day.” My heart just melted.
When I first came to the States, I thought that American students were extraordinary in their clothing and their behavior. But after seeing the teachers I realize that we are just sweet lambs in front of these maverick adults.
Thanks to them, I love my school, the photography class, the art class, the math class, the principal’s office, the history class, the cafeteria and the library. My teachers are just so wonderful.
*Zhou is an 11th grade student at the West Windsor - Plainsboro High School South, New Jersey

Germany 1 2 Italy

Mario Balotelli secured Italy a place in the Euro 2012 final against Spain as his goals defeated Germany in Warsaw.

Manchester City's enigmatic striker provided Italy with the cutting edge and two first-half goals as Joachim Loew's Germany failed to produce the impressive form that had seen them touted as potential tournament winners.
Balotelli put Italy on the way when he directed Antonio Cassano's cross past Germany keeper Manuel Neuer then added a thunderous second from Riccardo Montolivo's pass.
Mesut Ozil's injury-time penalty provided the briefest anxiety for Italy, whose victory was confirmed moments later, and Balotelli fell into the warm embrace of an elderly Italian lady as he made his way down the tunnel.

Analysis

Jurgen Klinsmann Match of the Day analyst

"The future for Germany lies within that team, but tonight you could clearly see they hit the wall. They were outplayed by Italy in the first half and Italy produced a magnificent display in the second half. Italy get all the credit tonight, they were deserved winners. As a whole team Germany couldn't match up with Italy, they lost all the battles in midfield. They couldn't control Pirlo, they couldn't control Montolivo, they couldn't control De Rossi. And on nights like this you need a star and tonight Balotelli was that man."

The 21-year-old limped off with cramp late on - but his work was done and Italy can now look forward to a meeting with world and European champions Spain in Kiev on Sunday.

Italy's victory maintained their stranglehold on Germany - they are undefeated in eight competitive encounters that take in five matches at the World Cup and three in the European Championship.
And the scale of Italy's achievement is the greater for the fact that Germany had an additional 48 hours to prepare while Cesare Prandelli's side were going through after extra-time and penalties against England.
Balotelli, along with the pass master Andrea Pirlo, was the inspiration but Italy's defenders and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon provided defiance and quality as Germany threatened in the first half then attempted to mount a recovery after the break.
Germany coach Loew responded to Pirlo's master class against England by detailing the recalled Toni Kroos to monitor the veteran. The ploy was not a success.
Buffon and his German counterpart Neuer had greeted each other warmly in the tunnel before kick-off in a prelude to a busy first 45 minutes for the pair.
Buffon was grateful Pirlo was well placed to clear Mats Hummels' effort off the line and also needed to be alert to deal with Jerome Boateng's dangerous cross, which almost deflected in off Andrea Barzagli, as well as a shot from Kroos.
Italy edged their way into the game as Neuer saved from Montolivo and they capitalised on the spell of pressure when Balotelli headed them in front after 20 minutes. Cassano was the creator as he escaped Hummels and crossed perfectly for Balotelli, who lost Holger Badstuber to head past Neuer.
Germany's slack defending was in sharp contrast to their attacking and Buffon was again called into action to save from Ozil and Sami Khedira before Balotelli provided another demonstration of the talent that makes him such a compelling footballer and personality.
Montolivo's pass exposed Germany, leaving Balotelli to take a touch before drilling a magnificent finish high past the helpless Neuer - although by stripping off his shirt in celebration he received a needless booking from French referee Stephane Lannoy.

Germany required emergency action and Loew took it at the start of the second half when he replaced the anonymous Lukas Podolski - watched by his new club manager at Arsenal Arsene Wenger - and Mario Gomez with Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus.
A German response was to be expected and captain Philipp Lahm almost provided it, only to waste a presentable opportunity by firing off target - bringing a reaction from Prandelli as he removed Cassano and sent on Alessandro Diamanti.
Reus almost provided what Loew was looking for just after the hour but once again Buffon showed great athleticism to turn his free-kick on to the bar.
Claudio Marchisio was guilty of squandering the chance to wrap things up for Italy before Balotelli's night ended prematurely with 20 minutes left, making way for Antonio di Natale.
Another spell of slick passing, inevitably, involving Pirlo, played Marchisio in again but he flashed a low, angled effort beyond Neuer but also the far post.
Germany, backed by magnificent vocal support, thought they had a late lifeline when Ozil scored from the spot after Federico Balzaretti's handball - but nothing could stop Italy and Balotelli's night of triumph.

Euro 2012: Mario Balotelli says Italy win is best night of his life

Mario Balotelli has described his match-winning performance in Italy's Euro 2012 semi-final victory over Germany as "the best night of my life".

The 21-year-old Manchester City striker scored two first-half goals to set the platform for the 2-1 win, dedicating the victory to his adopted mum Silvia.

Analysis

Alan Shearer BBC Sport

"Balotelli did everything right against England without reward but he he got his rewards against Germany. His performance was sensational. He was bigger, stronger and he got goals. He added everything we wanted him to add to his game. It was the perfect performance."

The Azzurri will now play favourites Spain in Sunday's final.

"This was the greatest night of my life and I hope Sunday will be better," Balotelli said.
At the final whistle, Balotelli sought out his family and embraced them in the stands. "At the end of the game I went to my mother - that was the best moment," he added.
"I told her these goals were for her. I waited a long time for this moment, especially as my mother is not young anymore and can't travel far, so I had to make her happy when she came all the way here. My father will be in Kiev for the final too."
Balotelli's two goals took him joint top of the Euro 2012 scoring charts with three. "I will try to win the top scorer award," he said.

"In football sometimes you can try so many times and it doesn't go in, or try few and it does all the time. It was a fantastic assist, the kind only Antonio Cassano can provide, while Riccardo Montolivo's pass was great too."
He celebrated his second goal by taking off his shirt and striking a typically defiant pose. "They didn't get angry because I was booked for taking my shirt off, but they saw my physique and got jealous," he joked.
Balotelli, who was substituted midway through the second half, dismissed any injury worries and declared himself fit for Sunday's final. "I had cramp and was a little tired, but I told the coach to wait five minutes and by that point the substitution was already in progress. It's fine."
Italy now meet Spain for the second time in the tournament, having played out a 1-1 draw in the group stages. And Balotelli believes that, despite Germany's lacklustre performance, the Azzurri are in the final on merit.
"When Italy win it is because the other team played bad," he said. "I think we won because we were better and we deserved it.
"We are with Spain, we are the two best teams in the tournament," he added.
"I hope to win, I don't care if I play badly as long as we give our all. We have to relax, mustn't get frustrated with Spain's possession and keep playing our football.

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Euro 2012: Mario Balotelli delighted with 'important' goals for Italy

"We are the only side to have scored against Spain so far. We proved that we are equal to them, if not more, and we want to win."
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said Balotelli's performance had proved he had developed into a team player and not just an individual.
"Mario is rather unique, he's atypical. He's very strong and fights for the team. He's always been there when called upon and he fights in the penalty area," he said.
"The career of Mario Balotelli has only just begun."
Not all the Italians were as content, however. Captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon stormed off the field at the final whistle, furious at Italy's failure to convert a host of second-half chances that would have put the result beyond doubt.
"I was annoyed because I don't celebrate second place and I was angry with us because we could have avoided the difficult final five minutes," Buffon said.
"When you can score seven goals against Germany, you have to score seven because if they come back to 2-2 they'll beat you 10-2 in extra-time. We need to be more mature and to know that even if football is a game, when you reach the European Championship final, it's no longer a game."
Andrea Pirlo, who was named man-of-the-match, also sounded a note of caution for Sunday's final. "We haven't done anything yet," he said. "There's no use going to Rome and not seeing the Pope. We want to go home with this cup."

Euro 2012: Joachim Loew says Germany will learn from Italy defeat

Germany coach Joachim Loew says his players are distraught after their Euro 2012 semi-final loss to Italy, but says they will learn from the experience.

Loew's young team began as favourites in Warsaw but lost 2-1 to a Mario Balotelli-inspired Azzurri side.
"The disappointment is great. Nobody is speaking in the dressing room. The players are crying," admitted Loew.
"I'm not going to question everything we've done. The team has great quality. It will continue to develop and learn."
Loew added: "We've had two great years.
"The team has really developed well. We won 15 games in a row but lost today against an incredibly strong Italian side, with a strong axis and two great strikers.
"There's no reason to doubt ourselves. Our team was the youngest team here.
"Even though there's disappointment today, we played a wonderful tournament and I am sure we will be able to cope with this defeat."

Analysis

Jurgen Klinsmann Match of the Day analyst

"The future for Germany lies within that team, but tonight you could clearly see they hit the wall. They were outplayed by Italy in the first half and Italy produced a magnificent display in the second half. Italy get all the credit tonight, they were deserved winners."

Germany went into Thursday's semi-final confident of reaching a final against Spain on Sunday, after winning all of their matches in the competition during their run to the last-four.

But they were 2-0 down at half-time after Balotelli struck twice, and they were then unable to break down the Italian defence until the 92nd minute, through Mesut Ozil's penalty.
Having opted to rotate his front three for last Friday's 4-2 quarter-final win over Greece, Loew again tinkered with his starting line-up, but this time it backfired as Italy had the best of the first half.
Toni Kroos was a surprise inclusion and he failed to make an impact in his first start of the competition.
"I wanted to strengthen things in midfield, which is why I brought in Toni," explained Loew.
"The goals we conceded came from mistakes, because we weren't present enough around the area. The cross from which Balotelli scored his opening goal shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

"We had things under control at the start, but after falling behind we took more risks and weren't as well organised.
"After going 2-0 down, we had to risk everything. The team showed a lot of heart in the second half, but when you find yourself 2-0 down against the Italians it is incredibly difficult."
Germany captain Philipp Lahm said: "It's very, very bitter. We made mistakes that led to those two goals. We worked hard in the first half and we had chances but you can't give up goals like that.
"Every defeat is bitter, especially after getting so far in the tournament. But if you can't get the job done at the right time or aren't clever enough in certain situations then you lose.
"The most bitter thing is that this team has so much potential for much more."
Thursday's loss means Germany's record of having never beaten Italy at a major tournament is now extended to eight matches.
The defeat also means Germany have failed at the semi-final stage for the second major tournament in a row after losing to Spain in the last four of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They also lost in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup - to Italy - and were beaten in the final of Euro 2008, again by the Spanish.
One note of optimism for Germany is that their impressive squad for this tournament was the youngest with an average age of around 24 and a half.

Inspiration From Steve Jobs: Real Artists Ship

When it comes to good salesmanship and motivating speeches, few have rivaled the words of the late Steve Jobs. His slogan “Real Artists Ship” arose before the release of the now iconic first Mac, when the project was months overdue. The saying helped unite his workforce, pushing them to work nearly non-stop; toward the end even producing new release candidates of the operating system every few hours.
The nautically themed images featured here where created by designer Andrew Power. He’ll soon be offering prints, but for now you can get wallpaper for your computer or phone at dribbble.com.
Below is an excerpt from Steven Levy’s book Insanely Great, which chronicles the creation of the first Mac. Here he explains the origin of the slogan:

Jobs’s speeches were punctuated by slogans. Perhaps the most telling epigram of all was a three-word koan that Jobs scrawled on an easel in January 1983, when the project [the release of the first Mac] was months overdue. REAL ARTISTS SHIP. It was an awesome encapsulation of the ground rules in the age of technological expression. The term “starving artist” was now an oxymoron. One’s creation, quite simply, did not exist as art if it was not out there, available for consumption, doing well. Was [Douglas] Engelbart an artist? A prima donna—he didn’t ship. What were the wizards of PARC? Haughty aristocrats—they didn’t ship. The final step of an artist—the single validating act—was geting his or her work into boxes, at which point the marketing guys take over. Once you get the computers into people’s homes, you have penetrated their minds. At that point all the clever design decisions you made, all the tists and turns of the interface, the subtle dance of mode and modeless, the menu bars and trash cans and mouse buttons and everything else inside and outside your creation, becomes part of people’s lives, transforms their working habits, permeates their approach to their labor, and ultimately, their lives.
But to do that, to make a difference in the world and a dent in the universe, you had to ship. You had to ship. You had to ship.
Real artists ship.

Encouraging STEM Students Is in the National Interest

By S. James Gates Jr. and Chad Mirkin

This year a report issued by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, on which we serve, concluded that if the United States is to maintain its historic pre-eminence in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and gain the social, economic, and national-security benefits that come with such pre-eminence, then we must produce approximately one million more workers in those fields over the next decade than we are on track now to turn out. At first glance, that may seem to be a daunting task—but it doesn't have to be.
At current rates, American colleges and universities will graduate about three million STEM majors over the next decade, so an increase of one million would require a whopping 33-percent increase. Yet the report's lofty goal can be seen as quite feasible in the light of two other statistics: First, 60 percent of students who enter college with the goal of majoring in a STEM subject end up graduating in a non-STEM field. And second, reducing attrition in STEM programs by 10 percentage points—so that half of freshmen who enter college with the intention of majoring in one of those fields complete college with a STEM degree—will produce three-quarters of the one million additional graduates within a decade.
We find these facts encouraging, especially since a lot is already known about why students drop out of STEM studies. Among the leading reasons are uninspiring introductory courses, difficulty with the required math because of a lack of adequate preparation, and an academic culture that is sometimes not welcoming, particularly to women and minorities, who constitute 70 percent of college students but earn only 45 percent of STEM degrees. On the basis of that knowledge, we believe it is entirely realistic to think that, with a diligent effort, the United States can achieve the goals laid out in the report.
The federal government could get the ball rolling by acting on three recommendations suggested in the report: It should promote widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices, including active learning approaches, in introductory STEM courses; advocate and provide support for replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses; and begin a national experiment in postsecondary mathematics education to address the preparation gap that discourages students from pursuing STEM degrees.
But we also strongly believe that action at the federal level is not sufficient. Academic institutions, faculty, and students have an equally crucial, if not more important, role to play. It won't be easy. They all must be willing to make improvements in undergraduate STEM education in the face of institutional and individual barriers to change and an academic career-incentive system that is often not aligned to promote innovative and inspirational teaching in introductory STEM courses.
So what can colleges and universities do to help? First, they should collaborate with high schools on the development of bridge programs to improve student preparation during the summer between high school and college.
We've seen this work. For example, through a combination of bridge programs, building a community of support for STEM students, increasing students' research opportunities, and re-evaluating teaching practices, the University of Texas at El Paso raised graduation rates in STEM disciplines by nearly 50 percent and more than doubled the number of STEM baccalaureate degrees awarded to Hispanics—making it the largest producer of Mexican-American STEM graduates in the country.
Second, institutions should build on the mounting evidence that collaborative partnerships between two- and four-year institutions provide greater access to and opportunities for advanced STEM training for a more diverse population of students. In the University of California and California State University systems, universities and neighboring two-year colleges align curricula and work with students through the transition to bachelor's-degree programs in STEM disciplines. Courses at the community-college level that are vetted by university faculty not only provide intellectual rigor but also allow students to develop relationships with faculty before transferring.
Third, we call upon educators and their institutions to support research collaborations between research and nonresearch universities, including minority-serving institutions, that offer experience with cutting-edge scientific research to broad groups of students. For example, a partnership between Elizabeth City State University, in North Carolina, and the University of New Hampshire has given more than 400 students such experiences through federally sponsored programs.
Finally, we strongly recommend that academic leaders establish partnerships with the private sector to improve STEM undergraduate education. Foundations and private industry should join with universities to expand educational technologies, provide internships to students in the first two years of college, and invest in programs with proven success, such as bridge programs and certification programs linking community-college and technical education to industry-recognized standards.
To increase recognition of the importance of STEM college teaching, we think it will be crucial to have strong leadership from college presidents, provosts, and department chairs to galvanize faculty through resources and rewards. At the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, leadership from the president has led to a coordinated approach to STEM-education excellence with demonstrated success. Among African-American students who entered the program over a seven-year period, 51 percent went on to Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. programs in STEM subjects, and an additional cadre entered master's programs, particularly in technical fields.
Some changes, however, involve more-challenging and resource-intensive actions, such as altering the faculty incentive-and-promotion structure. Administrators may need to consider reallocating resources, bringing a more strategic focus to fund raising, and securing support from private sources as well as state and federal grants. Those resources can be used to influence how faculty spend their time and will be essential to institutionalizing improved STEM teaching.
We believe that engaging higher-education leaders in this mission and putting the report's recommendations into effect will remove the most significant barriers to STEM student retention. This will provide students with the skills they need to fill 21st-century jobs, and provide the United States with the work force it needs to be innovative and competitive for decades to come.

S. James Gates Jr. is a professor of physics and director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland at College Park. Chad Mirkin is a professor of chemistry, medicine, and engineering at Northwestern University. He is also director of Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology.

Women Facing Harsh New Pressures in North Korea

HONG KONG — As the world’s youngest dictator, Kim Jong-un has gotten off to a remarkable start in North Korea.
He has reneged on a deal with the United States for a quarter-million tons of food aid, threatened South Korea with fiery annihilation — nothing new there, really — and embarrassed his principal patron, China.

The Female Factor

Examining the role and impact of women in society

Most surprising of all this, writes my colleague Jane Perlez, is “how Mr. Kim has thumbed his nose at China, whose economic largess keeps the government afloat.” When a senior Chinese diplomat went to North Korea and warned Mr. Kim against a ballistic missile test, Jane says, “the new leader went ahead anyway.”
Mr. Kim, not yet 30, seems to have deftly consolidated his hold on state power since his father’s death in December. He appears fully in command of the political, military and diplomatic levers.
And some of his regime’s first policy moves in the economic sphere “were focused on re-enforcing controls” from the central government, according to a new paper by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
They suggest that the regime could impose a return to a more centrally planned economy, as we have seen before. Such a trend, which might well include a crackdown on the private, shadow-economy markets that are predominantly run by women, “could have the effect of once again marginalizing North Korea’s women.”
Mr. Haggard and Mr. Noland report that disproportionate numbers of women are now being laid off from jobs at North Korea’s state-owned enterprises because “working for the state is considered more politically advanced ‘man’s work.’ ”
As a result, women have moved into the markets, which are closed to men and operate quasi-legally in North Korea’s grudgingly hybrid economy. The regime views these markets — and the women who run them — with “an ambivalent if not actively hostile posture,” Mr. Haggard and Mr. Noland write.
“In other settings, this newfound freedom might be empowering,” they say, but the women traders have frequent run-ins with the police and, therefore, the North’s harsh penal system. Corruption is rife. Bribing police officers and state officials is common. “In short, the increasingly male-dominated state preys on the increasingly female-dominated market.”
“The regime has criminalized a range of market activities,” Mr. Haggard and Mr. Noland say, which inevitably lands traders in jails, prisons, labor camps or punitive “collection centers.”
Nearly half of the 300 North Korean defectors surveyed for the Haggard-Noland paper said they had seen executions while in detention. “Roughly three-quarters report forced starvation, and nearly a third report witnessing deaths from beatings and torture,” they write.
Mr. Haggard and Mr. Noland say their research paints “a picture of a vulnerable group that has been disadvantaged” in North Korea’s fitful transition from a purely command economy. “Energies are directed toward survival,” they write, adding that civil disobedience is rare and that market women as a group appear “to lack the tools or social capital to act collectively to improve their status.”
A year ago I interviewed two North Korean women who escaped the North after their jobs at state-owned factories dried up. A famine had taken hold of the country, and both women said they defected because, quite simply, they were starving. One of them, Lee Young-geum, a former truck dispatcher at a state-owned steel mill, called it “the eating problem.”
The other woman, Son Hyang-sun, now 41, had taken to eating grass to stay alive. State food rations had ceased at her factory, which produced glass ampules of morphine. There was no salt or sugar. Until she defected, she said, she had never once eaten fish or beef.
After crossing a river into China, Ms. Son dyed her hair and pierced her ears — small emancipations. But the Chinese police quickly picked her up and sent her back to North Korea. She spent the next four months in prison.
“With my hair and my pierced ears, the North Korean government thought I was mentally ill and that I would infect other people,” she said.
“So they tortured me with an electric stick” — she searched for the right term — “yes, a cattle prod. They stuck it everywhere.”
She did her time, then ducked the police who were watching her and crossed into China again. She met a North Korean man who wanted to get to South Korea, and they walked thousands of miles, through Vietnam, Cambodia and into Thailand. Together, they finally reached Seoul in May 2003.
After the birth of a daughter, the couple made their way to South Korea’s eastern coast, to the port town of Donghae, renowned for its clams and scallops. They found a small fish shop for sale and managed to get a loan to buy and modernize the place. The three of them now live upstairs.
And Ms. Son has named her shop “The Future.”

Euro 2012: Alan Shearer says England cannot win World Cup

Former captain Alan Shearer believes England have no chance of winning the 2014 World Cup and are "a million miles away" from the top international sides.

Roy Hodgson's side were knocked out of Euro 2012 by Italy on penalties.
"I don't attach any blame to Roy Hodgson," Shearer told BBC Sport. "But I don't go along with the idea England go home with their heads held high.
"It's no good sitting here saying we will win the World Cup in two years' time. The reality is we will not."

Analysis

Phil McNulty Chief football writer, BBC Sport

"Alan Shearer's outspoken comments about England will strike a chord with those who believe Euro 2012 confirmed that a change of football culture is needed in this country.
"They may not go down well with the players who fought so hard against a vastly-superior Italy before losing in the quarter-final in Kiev, but he is only echoing the thoughts of many."

Hodgson's side were beaten by Italy last Sunday after being outclassed in a goalless draw in Kiev.

England's players won plaudits for an improved performance in Poland and Ukraine, after a disastrous World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
Germany coach Joachim Loew - who masterminded a 4-1 thrashing of Fabio Capello's side two years ago - has praised Hodgson's management, and said that "England will develop under him in the next few years."
But Shearer sees a vast gulf in quality between England and the likes of Spain and Loew's Germany side.
"The big thing people have spoken about is the togetherness and work ethic but if you just want 11 guys to go out and work hard, I can find you 11 men from Newcastle city centre who will work their socks off," he said.
"That has to be a given, whether at a club or even more so for an international team.
"We are a million miles away from the top sides. Heads held high? Do you think France will go home to that reception?

Alan Shearer's England record

• Caps: 63
• Goals: 30
• Debut: v France 1992
• Last game: v Romania 2000

"It's a sign of how far behind we are now that we can go home and say we can hold our heads up high for getting into the quarter finals."

The Football Association recently voted in proposals for youth coaching which include smaller-sided games on smaller pitches with smaller goals.
But Shearer believes any progress on the international stage will need a vast improvement in the coaching culture of the country, which could take years.
"It's no good sitting here saying we will win the World Cup in two years' time," he said. "The reality is we will not.
"We have got to get out of the habit of going to tournaments thinking we can win it. This tournament has proven that. We need a change in culture and to be fair to the FA they are trying to change things now.
"It's going to take time to put these systems in place. Our league is the best in the world for entertainment but only because it is full of foreigners."
Fellow England international and BBC Sport pundit Lee Dixon also called for changes.
"Let's remind ourselves where we were two years ago under Capello," he said. "We have come on, the team was an absolute shambles. We have repaired that but we haven't moved forwards football-wise.
"If you go and watch how they teach kids to play football on the continent, they are all doing it a different way to us. And we are not progressing, so they must be doing it right.
"It's not rocket science."

Portugal 0 0 Spain

Cesc Fabregas was the hero again as Spain kept alive their hopes of defending the European title with a dramatic shootout win in Dontesk.

The Barcelona midfielder put Spain into Sunday's Euro 2012 final, drilling his penalty in off the left-hand post to spark scenes of jubilation.
Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves missed for Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo a frustrated, unused fifth penalty-taker.
The match finished 0-0 after extra-time with neither side doing enough to win.

“For Spain to play that badly for 90 minutes and then pick themselves up for extra-time is the sign of a really top side.”

Alan Hansen Match of the Day analyst

It took until half past midnight local time to get there, but Fabregas, who had scored the winning penalty in the Euro 2008 quarter-final win over Italy, ensured Spain proceeded to a final against Germany or Italy on Sunday and remain on course for an unprecedented third successive tournament victory.

The world champions have now won their past nine knockout games at major tournaments without conceding a goal, and their past 19 competitive matches.
Neither side had produced their fluent best during only the second 0-0 draw of the tournament. At times it was a bad-tempered affair and the apparently inevitable shootout made a nervy start as goalkeepers Rui Patricio and Iker Casillas denied Xabi Alonso and Moutinho respectively in the first round.
Andres Iniesta calmly put Spain in front, only for Pepe to keep Portugal on terms with a clinical low finish. Spain defender Gerard Pique found the bottom left-hand corner of the net, but Nani responded by firing his spot-kick high into the roof of the net to make it 2-2.
But when Spain's Sergio Ramos nonchalantly chipped his penalty beyond Patricio and Alves hit the bar for Portugal, it was left to Fabregas to send Spain into the final and spark memories of 2008 when their footballing history changed forever as a nation remembered how to win.
It had been billed as a clash of Ronaldo, the ultimate individualist, and Vicente Del Bosque's finely tuned orchestra - Ronaldo against Spain, Real Madrid against Barcelona, individual brilliance against the collective mastery of the defending world and European champions.

What nobody had accounted for, however, was Spain playing out of tune for long periods - Portugal were the conductors as inspiration gave way to perspiration in Donetsk.
Ronaldo was a constant danger. But at no stage did Spain man-mark him, subject him to rough-house treatment or even cut off the supply from the excellent Moutinho.
Spain's plan simply was to use the ball to mark Ronaldo, controlling the match through possession in an attempt to render him impotent.
Portugal had other ideas. Their physicality and unswerving desire in midfield prevented Spain settling into their familiar rhythm. At every turn, Xavi and Iniesta found a willing opponent, pressing Spain high up the field and forcing mistake after frustrating mistake.
There were warning signs that Spain might find their rhythm when Iniesta linked up with Jordi Alba down the left flank after eight minutes. The Barcelona midfielder collected Alba's pass, drifted beyond two defenders and cut the ball back only for Alvaro Arbeloa to thump a first-time shot over the bar from the edge of the area.
Opportunities such as that soon became the exception rather than the rule, however. Tempers flared at times, passes were misplaced and Portugal grew in confidence.
Ronaldo's confidence was never in question. After 12 minutes, he reduced Gerard Pique to vain pursuit, surging beyond the Barcelona defender with that remarkable power steering only for his delicate cross to be picked off Nani's head by goalkeeper Casillas.
A left-foot snap-shot found the side netting and, with half-time approaching, he spun away from Sergio Ramos, winning a free-kick and responding with that chest-out, hands-on-hips pose he has trademarked. Ronaldo was in the mood.
Spain were out of their comfort zone but their individual brilliance made them a danger on the rare occasions they did attack. Iniesta and Xavi combined well midway through the first half only for the former to curl his shot agonisingly over the crossbar.
After an hour Del Bosque had seen enough, abandoning his original plan to use a traditional centre forward in Alvaro Negredo by introducing Fabregas. The ineffective David Silva also made way for Jesus Navas as Spain sought width.

Spanish success

• Spain will play their fourth European Championship final on Sunday (1964, 1984, 2008 and 2012). They have lost just one (1984).
• Cesc Fabregas also scored the last penalty in the 4-2 victory over Italy in the quarter-final of Euro 2008.
• Wednesday's match was the first time since that match in 2008 that a Spain match had finished goalless.

Briefly, Xavi began receiving the ball in advanced positions more regularly, showing the poise and the grace to dribble into dangerous areas.

At the other end, Ronaldo thumped a dipping free-kick over the bar after 73 minutes but Portugal's raids were growing more infrequent as they were forced to rely on set-pieces. Ten minutes later, Ronaldo repeated the trick and, as the game ticked into injury time, the Real Madrid man had a chance to win it.
Portugal broke like a sprint-relay team as a Spain free-kick was cleared. The tireless Miguel Veloso found Raul Meireles, but the Chelsea man's pass forced Ronaldo to check his run down the left flank, and his shot was dragged wide.
Fatigue was beginning to show in Portugal's play and it was Spain who revived in extra-time to come as close as at any point to breaking the deadlock.
Navas might have done better with a shot, from which Alba collected and picked out Iniesta's surging run only for the midfielder to see his close-range shot pushed round the post.
Ramos thundered a free-kick inches over the bar from 30 yards moments later, before Patricio was forced into action again, turning Navas's fierce low shot away.
It was all Spain now, and Fabregas put Pedro through on goal with a delightful touch on the half-way line but Portugal flooded back before the Barcelona forward could pull the trigger.
It was a moment that encapsulated the contest - Spain pushed for a winner, desperate to avoid penalties but Fabregas ensured they need not have worried.