****.

It's not. The angle that shows the bottom of the offending foot clearly shows that it's a smaller piece of turf flying straight up off the toe of the cleat.

Spain earned it. They controlled the field that 2nd half. Germany looked complacent the entire match, happy to sit back with 7, 8, 9 defenders, until they were down a goal. THEN they finally put some offensive effort in, too little too late.

I couldn't watch. I'm working. Oh well. At least I won't care if I miss it on Sunday. Go Netherlands.

Here's a good still of the Boot To The Head...

Was that bicycle kick a penalty? I can't remember the rules on high kicks.

No, no penalty called. Both going for the ball, and the Dutch player basically put his face in between the foot and the ball.

Talk about taking one for the team!

Well, if I was only going to watch five minutes of the final, I guess I picked the correct five minutes.

To the extent I cared, I picked Netherlands but only because Spain (I know, those are club teams not national teams) came off looking so horrible in the Bryant Gumble/Real Sports story on racism in European soccor.

That was an ugly assed game. I was rooting for Spain, but I thought they came off looking like Tom Brady at his most complacent.