England-Italy: what really happened

I am sure readers will be familiar with the invisible gorilla phenomenon. If not, please go here and do the test before reading on. For those already familiar with the phenomenon, here’s what really happened during the penalty shoot out in Kiev earlier this evening. Slow-motion pictures reveal that just as Ashley Young was about to take his penalty a huge wooden Pinocchio puppet lumbered onto the pitch and bent Buffon’s goalpost down so that Young’s shot was blocked. As in the gorilla test, people were concentrating so hard on the ball and the players that they simply failed to see the Pinocchio puppet. The alternative explanation – that England were outplayed for most of the game and were exhausted by the end and that Italy were unlucky not to put away one of their many chances in normal and added time – is frankly just unbelievable.