The Italian team would pay no attention to the oddsmakers that gave them only about a 33% chance of winning today's game against Germany.

Mario Balotelli, the talented striker powered in two goals, one with a header, that helped Gli Azzurri reach the final EuroCup game against Spain this Sunday.

Perhaps the German team remembered too many of the recent heartaches against the Italian teams, and tried to overcoach the game.  They had some chances, but Italy was able to build a lead, and then used its swarming defense to shut down the high-powered German attack.

Once again Buffon made some great saves, even though he looked a little off in the beginning of the match.  But his teammates bailed him out on a few occasions.

There were even some other good chances that the Italians could have capitalized like Claudio Marchisio's chance in the 67th and 75th minute.  Even Antonio Di Natale, who substituted for Balotelli had a nice chance in the 82nd minute.

Coming up for Italy is a rematch with Spain, who outplayed Italy in the first match if you look at the time of possession.

We'll see if this time is different.  Balotelli had a couple of golden chances in the first meeting that he did not capitalize on....I'm sure he would love to have those back.  Maybe he will get his wish this Sunday.