About... a half-hour ago, the Scotland-Italy game ended. The score was 2-1, for Italy. I'll get right down to the point and save the details for someone else to provide. 

It was a rainy day in Glasgow, at Hampden Park, but that didn't stop Italy from scoring, via Luca Toni. The Bayern Munich man had recieved a quick pass from teammate, Antonio Di Natale and with the outside of his foot, he one-timed the ball into the back of the net. 1-0, Italy. But, right before the break, Scotland could've equalised, as a Scottish player had headed the ball, from a corner kick, and it was definintely headed gol-bound. But with Gigi Buffon out of position, an Italian defender had cleared it, well, off the line.

As we went into the second half, the rain seemed to let up a touch, but the pitch was still very slippery. Scottish and Italian players didn't really have a good grip on the grass, as they were sliping and sliding all over the field. In the 65th minute, Scotland had gotten a free-kick, just outside the area. The ball was struck with some menace from James McFadden, but the ball had deflected and went straight through the wall. Lee McCulloch gave a hard kick at it, but Gigi Buffon was able to save it... only to see the ball slip out of his grasp (mostly due to the wetness on the ball) and Barry Ferguson got the rebound. He kicked into the gol for the equaliser. 1-1, Scotland. As us TV viewers saw the replay, Ferguson looked to be off-side, but nothing was given. The ref said it was a perfectly legal gol.

As time was winding down, the game looked as if it were going to end as a tie. Scotland looked poised to celebrate, as the game was already in the 90th minute. But when the referee had called, what looked to be, an un-necessary foul, Italy had a chance to score a late, late, LATE winner. The free-kick was a few yards ahead of the corner flag, so it did look kind of like a mini-corner. With a genius like Andrea Pirlo on the field to take the kick, Scotland had to be very careful. Andrea Pirlo is not only a free-kick specialist, but is one of the best "curlers of the ball", in the entire world.

He kicked the ball. It seemed as if his free-kick was a bad one, but as the ball curled towards the back post, Christian Panucci (who had a chance to make it 2-1, a few minutes earlier) ran onto the ball and headed it home from 5 yards out. 2-1, Italy in the 90th. The whistle blew and the game was over.

With the win, Italy have now quailifed for the Euro 2008 championship. The funny thing is, with the Italian win, France have also qualified... without having to even kick a ball. They still have to finish their last 2 games, but they have already qualified, all thanks to Italy.

Meanwhile, Scotland's dream of making it to the European championship, next summer in Austria-Switzerland... are now over.