| 5 July 2006 |
| PORTUGAL | 0-1 |
FRANCE |
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Zidane 33 (Pen) |
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The Portuguese defence got caught on a longball out of defence, Malouda,
probably because he was being shadowed by the brilliant Miguel, wasted the opportunity by snatching at his shot. Barthez flapped at a tame Deco effort but no one was on hand to take advantage. Just past the half hour mark Malouda dribbled his way past a couple of Portuguese players before giving a reverse pass to Henry and he made the most of Carvalho's clumsy challenge as he turned inside the defender to win a penalty. Up stepped Zidane to blast the ball into the bottom left corner. Henry wasted a good opening with a poor finish and Ricardo, like slap-head Barthez, made hard work of a tame long range shot. The French should have finished off Portugal on the break early in the second half but Zidane screwed up a pass to Henry with the striker open in the box. Les Blues made no concerted attempts to attack probably confident in the knowledge that Portugal's strikers would have problems scoring in the MLS & J-League let alone in the World Cup but with prize clown Barthez in goal there's always a chance. He dropped an almighty bollock when he scooped a Ronaldo free kick high in the air with both hands but Figo bailed him out by heading over. In injury time Thuram fell under a challenge from Postiga when they battled for a longball but Meira smashed it into row Z. After last night's classic both teams served up a magnitude of shite. As far as Portugal are concerned good riddance to bad rubbish. One goal in three games in the knockout stages speaks for itself and their part in the disgraceful match against the Dutch cannot be overlooked. I expected more from Scolari, especially given the way Brazil played in 2002 and Portugal in 2004 but I guess, given the abysmal quality of the squad he had to work with, surely one of the worst teams to ever play in a World Cup semi-final, he did well to get them this far. Ronaldo was unmercifully booed by the French, presumably because people thought he was disingenuous in his comments over the Rooney red card and because he continues the long tradition of simulation that plagues Portuguese players (Greeks and Turks are equally as bad). Ronaldo and Postiga should have been booked for diving in the box. Zidane looked exhausted after 60 minutes, as did many of the other players which makes Sunday's midfield battle all the more intriguing. Gattuso and Pirlo can keep going for 90 minutes and beyond, can Vieira and Makelele? Unfortunately for Italy Saha is out of the final having picked up his second yellow of the knockout stages which means Trezeguet will play some part and we all know what happened last time he played against Italy. Attendance : 66,000 Assist : Henry (won pen) |
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| 4 July 2006 |
| GERMANY | 0-2 |
ITALY |
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Grosso 118 |
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Del Piero 120 |
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Totti chipped a delightful pass to Roma team-mate Perrotta but a poor first touch was the invitation Lehmann needed to come off his line and smother the ball. Germany's forwards tore through the heart of the Italian defence with a rapid series of one-twos but as Klose played the ball out wide to Schneider the imposing figure of Buffon had advanced off his line to close down the angles and Schneider blazed over. Early in the second half Klose gathered a pass 30 yards from goal and headed straight from the centre of the box and showed tremendous strength to hold off Gattuso then probably became the first player in this tournament to beat Cannavaro but Buffon rushed off his line and kicked the ball clear. Schneider dropped a ball between Grosso and Gattuso, Podolski rolled Materazzi as he turned before drawing a good save from Buffon and Friedrich snatched at the rebound. With the spectre of penalties looming Italy made an aggressive start to extra time. Metzelder fell on the right edge of the box as he battled with Gilardino for a loose ball, Ballack arrived to cover, as Gilardino got to the by-line he cut inside Ballack only to see his shot come back of Lehmann's post, shades of Milan vs Barcelona. A minute later Zambrotta rattled the crossbar after Pirlo's corner was only half cleared. Late in first half injury time Podolski, who did a tremendous amount of work in midfield, wasted what was arguably Germany's clearest opening. As Grosso backed off from the jet heeled Odonkor the midfielder floated a super deep cross to the back post and Podolski headed yards wide. Seconds after Del Piero wasted a good opening by getting the ball caught in his feet the Germans poured forward on the break through Kehl and Odonkor, Kehl's angled pass took Podolski wide of Cannavaro but his shot was brilliantly saved by Buffon. Gilardino laid off Iaquinta's delightful back heel to Del Piero but he slashed his shot horribly wide. Iaquinta helped setup another chance with a volleyed pass infield to Pirlo, he took advantage of Kehl's slip to unleash a shot from 25 yards which Lehmann tipped out for a corner. Kehl didn't get enough on Del Piero's corner, clearing the ball as far as Pirlo who was standing inside the D, he took four steps forward (and three defenders with him) before slipping a disguised pass to Grosso who struck a fantastic, first time left foot shoot into the bottom left corner of Lehmann's net, queue Marco Tardelli style celebrations from the Palermo defender. Cannavaro headed out a deep Ballack cross then burst out of his box to follow up as Podolski intercepted, Cannavaro headed the ball down and continued to run forward before Totti took the ball off him and sent Gilardino racing down the left, Gilardino turned off the pace as he approached the box and stepped past Metzelder before playing in the galloping Del Piero with magnificent reverse pass, the Juve forward curled the ball first time into the top corner of the net and seconds later the ref blew for full time. Klinsmann consoled his players after the match. He has proved all his critics totally and utterly wrong and took the German football back 2 decades, back to when the team played an aggressive brand of direct, attacking football. They have a bright future with him as coach. One of the all time great football matches played in a wonderful spirit by two adventurous teams matched by Mexican referee Benito Archundia's officiating. High on precision, high on flair and composed defending, especially from the Italians. In extra time Italy were playing with three forwards (Gilardino, Iaquinta and Del Piero) in addition to Totti and Pirlo. Pirlo and Gattuso were outstanding and there aren't enough superlatives to describe the level of performance of Fabio Cannavaro. "Some foreign critics have too negative a view of Italian football. No top level Italian club for example play the old-style man-marking game. Our football has evolved." - Marcello Lippi, World Soccer April 2006 "This team often plays with three men up front, we play an attacking game and one that calls for me and the other strikers to help out in midfield too. It calls for the whole side to be involved all the time and it a long way from the old catenaccio label that people like to stick on us." Alberto Gilardino, World Soccer April 2006 Attendance : 65,000 Assists : Pirlo, Gilardino |
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