Germany are in danger of becoming a poor man's England after their 2-1 defeat to Italy in the Euro 2012 quarter-final wear mercurial vapor 8. By the time the 2014 World Cup comes along they will have gone 18 years without a trophy - their longest since the 18-year wait between the 1954 World Cup win and the 1972 European Championship victory. Two first-half goals by striker Mario Balotelli wear mercurial vapor viii inspired Italy to an upset 2-1 win over Germany in Warsaw on Thursday night. Italy took the lead in the 20th minute when Balotelli rose above Holger Badstuber to head Antonio Cassano wear nike mercurial vapor 8 cross into the German net. Balotelli added a second 15 minutes later, when he broke the German offside trap, raced onto a 60-yard pass by Riccardo Montolivo and smashed the ball into the upper reaches of the German goal. German coach Joachim Loew wear nike mercurial vapor viii made a number of changes at halftime, but the Germans were unable to force a goal until stoppage time, when Mesut Ozil wear cheap nike soccer cleats scored from the penalty spot after a Federico Balzaretti handball. Italy will face Spain in the final on Sunday in Kiev, two weeks to the day that after the two teams played out a 1-1 tie in their Group C opener wear cheap adidas soccer cleats. The Italians played a terrific game tonight. They attacked smartly and defended tenaciously, and were well worth their win. Despite an embarrassment of rested riches, Germany came up short. Again wear adidas predator lz. Suckered on two goals, the Germans seldom looked like scoring from open play. Italy moves on to the final in Kiev. If the team hadn’t already won over the neutral fans, tonight’s performance should have sealed it. That’s it from me. Goodnight. Italy: Gianluigi Buffon wear adidas f50 adizero trx, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Federico Balzaretti, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, Riccardo Montolivo, Claudio Marchisio, Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli. Germany: Manuel Neuer wear nike mercurial vapor 8, Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos wear nike mercurial vapor 9, Mario Gomez.