Even though the half was not very inspired........it is fun to read the Brit commentary.......

19 min: Alonso strokes a delicious early-2005-at-Liverpool-era pass from the centre circle to the foot of Ramos out on the right wing. Ramos ridiculously tries to find the top-right corner from outside the area. Some respect, man! "So you're saying there's more determination in their fannying around?" asks Stuart Lawson. I didn't mean to, not exactly, but, er, probably did. So sue me! Still, Stuart doesn't seem to mind, thankfully. "That's the kind of insight you just don't get from Alan Shearer." You got that straight, baby. "Admittedly any insight is the kind of insight you just don't get from Alan Shearer, but still."


28 min: Podolski is down after Ramos stood on his instep. That should have been a booking, Ramos was late, late, late. Podolski's in proper pain. Jansen is ordered to warm up on the touchline.

34 min: Germany are beginning to grow into this game. In fact they look much more dangerous. Trochowski breaks down the left, then feeds Ozil, who wins a corner. Not much comes from it. Up the other end, the quiet Villa is in acres down the right, but Busquets can't find him with a crossfield pass.

37 min: "I've frankly grown tired of Spain's anti-football," writes Damien Neva. "I mean, if they'd just let Germany play rather than stifle their counterattacks with all that possession, then we'd have a really beautiful game." You've got that [censored] straight. Spain are playing a lot of their tiki-bullshita, and getting absolutely nowhere with it. Has Cesc Fabregas been embarrassed to talk about his time at Arsenal over dinner, or something? Germany have been far the more incisive side, albeit the bar's set low in a cagy game.

42 min: Boateng, not for the first time, clatters into Ramos down the right, just outside the area. That's a free kick to the Spanish in a dangerous position. Here's a kwik kwiz:
Q1: Do Spain
(a) cross the ball into the box
(b) pass the ball to someone near the box
(c) attempt a complicated series of quick passes, the last of which disappears up a Spanish fundament?
ANSWER: You know the answer.
44 min: Spain win a corner down the right. It's wasted. This hasn't been much of a half of football, this. "Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku have been discussing how they noticed none of the Spanish players sang the national anthem and are using this as an example of divisions in the camp," reports James Curley. "I think someone should point out the Spanish anthem has no words to sing."
HALF TIME: Germany 0-0 Spain. The half ends on a stroke of controversy. Ozil races toward the area with Ramos in hot pursuit. The Spanish defender clips the German's left heel as he enters the area. It should be a penalty - though not a red card, as Pique was covering. The foul wasn't given, though. A poor decision, that.