| 22 June 2006 |
| ITALY | 2-0 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
| Materazzi 26 | ||
| Inzaghi 87 | ||
| The Czechs fielded a half fit Baros in
attack. Italy were equally handicapped by playing Totti. Nesta went off with a groin injury and his chances of playing any part of the rest of the tournament look slim. Fortunately Cannavaro was out of this World. Materazzi headed Italy into the lead from a corner. After missing two excellent chances Inzaghi finished off the Czechs on the break. Another dreadful performance by Totti in an Italy shirt. He was so bad that his own fans booed him when he tried to lob the 'keeper and barely got the ball off the ground. He'll get a last chance against the Aussies, after that Del Piero has to start in a three man attack, assuming Italy go through to the quarter-finals. Attendance : 50,000 Red Card : Polak 46 (Czech Republic) Assists : Totti (ck), Perrotta |
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| GHANA | 2-1 |
USA |
| Dramani 22 |
Dempsey 44 |
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| Appiah 46 (Pen) | ||
| Reyna, standing near the edge of his box,
received a back pass and while he was weighing up his options and figuring out who to pass to, Dramani steamed in, ripped the ball from his left foot with an excellent tackle, ran into the box and curled beyond Keller. An equally poor piece of non defending at the other end got the US back on level terms. Boateng slid in to intercept a Beasley pass, as he turned he gave the ball straight back to Beasley, Beasley ran down the left wing and sent a low, out-swinging cross to the back post and Dempsey hammered a right foot volley past Kingston. Pimpong fell under an innocuous challenge from the giant Onyewu and Merck, one of the most experience refs in the competition, pointed to the spot. Appiah sent Keller the wrong way. McBride's spectacular diving header came back off a post. Essien picked up a yellow card for going through the back of Reyna in the fifth minute and thus misses Ghana's mouth-watering clash against Brazil. Attendance : 41,000 Assists : n/a, Beasley, Pimpong (won pen) |
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| 17 June 2006 |
| ITALY | 1-1 |
USA |
| Gilardino 22 |
Zaccardo 28 (og) |
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| Pope was booked for pushing down Gilardino.
Gilardino got his revenge to give Italy the lead against the run of play when he headed in a free kick from Milan team-mate Pirlo. Zaccardo levels matters by slicing Convey's free kick into his own net. De Rossi was sent off for smashing an elbow into McBride's face. Mastroeni followed for trying to break Pirlo's ankle with a disgraceful two footed lunge right in front of the ref. Pope got a second yellow for a late challenge from behind on Gilardino. Not worthy of a yellow card in itself but given that he and the rest of his team-mates were continually fouling from behind all match he had it coming. The cretin who officiated this match, Jorge Larrionda, should have clamped down on it much earlier. The USA packed the defence and Italy struggled to break through. Bocanegra headed a Pirlo free kick against his own crossbar then left Perrotta in a heap when sliding in for a 50-50 ball. Having used all their subs, a lame Perrotta had to soldier on. The one moment of magic was provided by Pirlo, who hit a delightful lob over the top of the US defence, Del Piero volleyed but Keller saved. It would be an absolute travesty if the USA make it to the knockout stages having kicked their way to point in this match and if they take the same approach against Ghana they'll get absolutely mugged but to the detriment of the game. I swear to God there isn't a national team in the World that takes you through the gamut of emotions like Italy and more is in store in the next match against a Czech team missing it's main strikers and best defender. For most teams that would be a certain three points. Attendance : 46,000 Red Cards : De Rossi 28 (Italy), Mastroeni 44 (USA), Pope 47 (USA) Assists : Pirlo (fk), n/a |
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| CZECH REPUBLIC | 0-2 |
GHANA |
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Gyan 2 |
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Muntari 82 |
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| Ujfalusi missed when trying to head clear an
Appiah cross, Gyan bounced the ball off his chest before lashing a half volley into the bottom corner. Having displayed composure in front of goal Gyan reverted to type and blew a great chance mid-way through the first half after good interplay between Essien and the monster Appiah who looks even more jacked than he did last week. The Czechs failed to take advantage of a quick counter attack when Appiah? lost possession in midfield. Nedved and Rosicky worked the ball out wide to Stajner, he pulled the ball across the face of goal only to see the unmarked Plasil denied by an incredible save from Kingston. Ghana wasted one of many opportunities on the break by over-elaborating around the box, Ujfalusi cleared, Essien hammered a shot at goal, the ball struck Amoah and as he turned to shoot Ujfalusi tapped him on the ankles, penalty. After what seemed an eternity the ref sent off Ujfalusi, just as Gyan had blasted the penalty past Cech. The ref booked him for not waiting for this whistle, which means he misses the next game, and to make matters worse on the re-take he hammered the ball against a post. Cech made brilliant saves from Amoah and Muntari. Appiah and Gyan played a double one-two on the right hand side of the Czech box, Gyan passed to Muntari and in one motion he controlled the ball as he turned then sent a shot screaming into the roof of the net. AWESOME. Kingston made the save of the tournament from Sionko's point blank header and from the resulting corner made another from Polak (shouldn't he be playing for another team?). What a bloody fantastic match. Ghana could have scored 6, the number of chances they had on the break was unreal and if they play half as well against the US they should make the last 16 with ease. I don't care what anyone says, Kingston is great. I didn't realise Gyan was 20, that excuses his finishing. Attendance : 45,000 Red Card : Ujfalusi 65 (Czech Republic) Assists : Appiah, Gyan |
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| 12 June 2006 |
| ITALY | 2-0 |
GHANA |
| Pirlo 40 | ||
| Iaquinta 83 | ||
| Italy won a succession of corners in the
first half and on every single one Kingston hung himself out to dry. At this point I couldn't understand why Adjei had been dropped. A fantastic counter attack should have yielded the first goal. De Rossi started it by charging down Appiah's free kick and carrying the ball forward before passing to Totti who in turned played in Pirlo in space down the right, as Pirlo was closed down he chipped the ball into Totti, Totti swung a cross into the box, Toni stretched but couldn't connect and Gilardino saw his shot rebound off Kingston for a corner. The duo combined for Italy's next chance. Gilardino flicked up De Rossi's through pass towards Toni, Toni headed the ball over Mensah before blasting a right foot volley against the underside of the crossbar. Gyan almost caught Buffon by surprise with an early shot which bounced just wide of a post. Pappoe wasted Ghana's best chance, ballooning a shot high over the bar after Gyan's deflected header landed at his feet in front of goal. Following this brief interlude Italy went back on the offensive. Totti stung Kingston's palms with a tremendous shot from 35 yards. Totti played a short corner to Pirlo and, standing wide left on goal, he sent a shot flying into the bottom right corner, a bit like Lahm's goal without the lift. The action replays suggest the ball took a deflection off either a Ghana player, Gilardino or maybe both. Kicker have given the assist to Totti so I'll go along with that. Curiously after conceding the goal Kingston was suddenly rock solid on crosses and corners. On the one occasion Essien got a long range shot on target, Buffon punched it to safety. Perrotta drew a great save from Kingston after Roma team-mate De Rossi threaded a pass between two defenders on a counter attack. Another Roma player, Kuffour, was lucky to escape a red card when he chopped down substitute Iaquinta as he ran in on goal - the ref had already blown for offside. After Ghana had their second half arsed penalty appeal turned down karma caught up with Kuffour. Pirlo, who had his best performance in about a year, stole a ball off Appiah deep in his own half before dropping a pass over Iaquinta's shoulder. Kuffour was goal side and should have hacked clear but sold his 'keeper short with a hospital pass and Iaquinta touched the ball past Kingston before tapping into an empty net. Italy gave the most complete performance of any of the teams so far. Ghana were exactly as I expected, strong midfield, rubbish attack. It's a good job Italy plays the Czech's last, they can rest some players against the US before going all out in order to avoid Brazil in the next round. Attendance : 43,000 Assists : Totti (ck), n/a |
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| USA | 0-3 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
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Koller 5 |
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Rosicky 36, 76 |
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| Rozenhal hit a long ball out of defence to
Grygera and Lewis, who should have been picked him up, was absolutely nowhere. Grygera fired a cross into the box which Koller emphatically headed into the net. Reyna struck the outside of a post with a shot from 25 yards and that was as close as the US got to scoring in the entire match. Onyewu could only clear a Nedved cross as far as Rosicky, he took one touch to bring the ball under control then from 25 yards unleashed a stunning shot which curled inside a post. Koller did his hamstring late in the first half and will miss either the rest of the tournament or the rest of the group stages. Rosicky clipped the top of the crossbar with another shot from distance. US sub Johnson looked threatening after coming on as sub but Rosicky quickly ended any hopes of a comeback with his second after gathering a pass from Nedved, bursting into the box and lifting the ball over Keller, excellent finish. Without Koller I don't see the Czech's beating Italy and thus avoiding Brazil in the second round especially as by the third game Nedved will be on his last legs physically with all the running he'll have to do against the Ghanaian midfield. Attendance : 50,000 Assists : Grygera, n/a, Nedved |
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