| 20 June 2006 |
| GERMANY | 3-0 |
ECUADOR |
| Klose 4, Klose 43 | ||
| Podolski 57 | ||
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Having already qualified Ecuador rested five players ahead of their last 16
match including captain Hurtado and star striker Delgado. A wise move which will no doubt ender them to the German public as would the defending that gave the hosts an early lead. Mertesacker hooked a sliced clearance over the back post, Schweinsteiger volleyed the ball towards Klose and he drilled a low shot into the bottom corner. He second his fourth goal of the tournament from a delightful Ballack pass. Podolski got off the mark after missing a couple of chances on a counter attack initiated by the excellent Schweinsteiger. Attendance : 72,000 Assists : Schweinsteiger, Ballack, Schneider |
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| COSTA RICA | 1-2 |
POLAND |
| Gomez 25 |
Bosacki 33, 66 |
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Gomez absolutely hammered a free kick through the Polish wall between Boruc's
legs, I'm sure had he got in the way the ball would have floored him. Zurawski's teasing corner drew Costa Rica's goalkeeper Porras off his line only he forgot to catch the ball and Bosacki volleyed in off the underside of the bar. Having made an excellent save from Krzynowek, from the resulting corner Porras decided to stay on his line only once the ball sailed across goal he couldn't help himself so ran to mark his near post as Bosacki headed in his second. Attendance : 43,000 Assists : Wanchope (won fk), Zurawski (ck), Krzynowek |
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| 15 June 2006 |
| ECUADOR | 3-0 |
COSTA RICA |
| Tenorio 9 | ||
| Delgado 54 | ||
| Kaviedes 93 | ||
| Valencia intercepted a loss ball and passed
to Delgado, he ran into traffic and having had a shot charged down played the ball back out wide to Valencia he trapped the ball, looked up and fired a cross into the box which Tenorio emphatically headed into the net. Porras made a brilliant save from Valencia's deflected cross. The impressive Recreativo winger served up another chance right on the stroke of half time but Delgado missed. Mendez chested down a cross to Delgado, Delgado headed the ball back, Mendez flicked it over a defender, Delgado bounced it off his chest then lashed a right foot volley past Porras. Saborio was unlucky to see a lob come back off the bar, we still haven't seen a goalkeeper lobbed in this tournament. With Costa Rica pushing forward, Ecuador hit them with a sucker punch on the break and it was another fabulous goal. Delgado was standing on the half way line with his back to play, as he received a pass out of defence from Reasco, with his first touch he flicked the ball over his head, completely taking out Marin who was closing in, then rolled the ball out wide to Mendez, he took a few steps forward before whipping a cross to the back post which Kaviedes met with a right foot volley. GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT. Kaviedes put on a Lucha mask to celebrate. Congratulations to Ecuador supports everywhere, they're in the last 16. Valencia (almost 21) plays for Recreativo, who have just been promoted back into La Liga. I don't expect he'll be there much longer. Attendance : 50,000 Assists : Valencia, Mendez, Mendez |
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| 14 June 2006 |
| GERMANY | 1-0 |
POLAND |
| Neuville 92 | ||
| Midway through the first half Klose missed an
absolute sitter. Lahm's clever pass hung in the air and was begging to hit but he headed wide. Germany's other Polish born striker, Podolski, ruined a fine team move with an atrocious finish from 2 yards out adding credence to some claims made by Polish fans to the BBC that the duo would help their team (Poland), if you like conspiracies. A deflected free kick broke to Klose but he shot straight at Buruc. Sobolewski earned himself a needless second yellow for a pulling back Klose on the half way line. The Germans poured forward in search of the winning goal. Lahm almost repeated his opening game heroics, cutting in from the left but Boruc saved and Ballack had a shot charged down on the rebound however the Germans quickly regained possession and Schneider thread a pass through to Schweinsteiger, his deflected cross broke to Neuville and he was denied a certain goal by an outstanding save from Buruc. In the 90th minutes Klose headed a fabulous Lahm cross against the bar, on the rebound Ballack also hit the woodwork then Neuville had his shot charged down. The hosts unrelenting pressure finally paid off. Schneider chipped another ball into the space vacated by Sobolewski, Odonkor, who has a notoriously poor cross, volleyed into the box and Neuville arrived to slide the ball past Boruc, lastminute.com. Attendance : 65,000 Red Card : Sobolewski 75 (Poland) Assist : Odonkor |
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| 9 June 2006 |
| GERMANY | 4-2 |
COSTA RICA |
| Lahm 6 |
Wanchope 12, 73 |
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| Klose 17, 61 | ||
| Frings 87 | ||
| Lahm latched onto a hurried clearance and
Umana's slip allowed him to run unchallenged into the box and from the bottom left corner he unleashed an incredible shot which crashed into the back of the net, in off a post. I've argued for years teams never play high offside traps at international level but that's precisely what the Germans did when Gomez slipped a ball through to Wanchope. Lehmann began to rush his line but, possibly fearful of another Barcelona style disaster, peddled back as the giant striker strode into the box and calmly pushed the ball into the bottom corner. Frings and Schneider worked the ball down Costa Rica's left, Schweinsteiger fired Schneider's cross to the back post and Klose slid in to restore his teams lead. Klose plundered his second on the rebound after Porras had brilliantly saved his initial effort. A combination of more naive defending and a blind linesman gifted Wanchope another goal. Centeno hit a delightful pass between two defenders and Wanchope again showed great composure to beat a bemused Lehmann. A fantastic save denied Mertesacker a certain goal. Three minutes from time Schweinsteiger rolled a free kick to an unmarked Frings who was 35 or so yards from goal and he hit the most extraordinary shot which suddenly arched away from Porras before piercing the top right corner of the net. Fabulous, fabulous game. Costa Rica again put on a show as they had done in the last World Cup. Germany's defending was abysmal and will be a major cause for concern when they inevitably face stronger teams. Attendance : 59,000 Assists : n/a, Gomez, Schweinsteiger, n/a, Centeno, Schweinsteiger (fk) |
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| POLAND | 0-2 |
ECUADOR |
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Tenorio 24 |
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Delgado 80 |
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| This was the first upset though the Poles can
consider themselves desperately unlucky. Tenorio punished non existent defending from a throw-in to give Ecuador the lead. De La Cruz hurled the ball into the box, Delgado flicked it forward and Tenorio darted across Baszczynski to send a header into the bottom corner. The Poles had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. The rest of the first half was so dull I changed channels. In the second half another mistake by Baszczynski was ruthlessly punished. He pushed up and tried to play offside as Kaviedes ran onto a pass but the flag stayed down and the striker centred for Delgado to tap in a second. Substitutes Jelen and Brozek hit the woodwork. Attendance : 52,000 Assists : Delgado, Kaviedes |
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