World Cup 2006 - Semi-Finals Day One
Benny
GERMANY 0-2 ITALY
Grosso 118
Del Piero 120
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
http://soccer-europe.com
Chat room : http://www.lhcw.net/WorldCup
Rss feed : http://soccer-europe.com/RSS/News.xml
AixlaChapelle
great report of that classic game
Congrats to Italy and all the Italians here in this newsgroup! Your team
deserves a place in the final and has everything to win it. What an epic
battle that was.
Why do we always struggle against Italy? Perhaps it's because the German
success in the past relied very much on the balance of the team. But
Italy is the only team in the world which has an answer to all the
qualities the Germans have, at least I cannot find any aspect of the
game giving Germany a crucial advantage. (Well, perhaps penalties are
the only exception:-)
Germany is physically strong => so is Italy
Germany is self-confident =>so is Italy
Germany is well organized => so is Italy
Germany never gives up => neither does Italy
Germany is good in the air => so is Italy
But Italy is technically superior to Germany, today more than 1970 which
was a very close game. Maybe not 1972 and 1974, but well, who knows, we
didn't meet.
Yesterday, this skill certainly made the difference with Pirlo being
cold-blooded enough to play such a beautiful pass in the 119th. minute.
Nonetheless, we could have gone through, too, if Podolski or Schneider
had converted one of their chances. They didn't, and it was not enough.
But ah, we put up a fight.
I am very glad that we have seen a very clean game with a ref who was
up to his task. Of course, there were a few situations we could discuss
now, but, IMHO, the ref made no crucial mistake. The handbal of the
Italian defender, well, slight contact, but even I would not have
pointed to the spot. So no need to blame anyone.
Again, congrats Italia, I am looking forward to the final nonetheless.
Cheers,
Ingo
symbi...@yahoo.com
trap he set up in the first half. Toni had yet another clueless day,
otherwise he would have moved back a bit and tried to organize quick
touches with Totti in order to defeat the trap. I liked Gilardino
yesterday; he played intelligently and created danger. I hope he keeps
it up. I am also glad that Del Piero got his goal, particularly in
these circumstances.
I had said in my predictions that Italy is the best and most
experienced team but that both semifinals were likely to be even. I was
right on both counts but the home advantage that I mentioned did not
materialize. From the beginning, it was clear that Italy was
comfortable, had no particular stress in playing Germany, and that we
were in for quite the battle. Great performances by several players,
including Cannavaro, Materazzi, Gattuso, Pirlo. Zambrotta is a rock:
almost impossible to get by him. Grosso has grown quite a bit in
stature in this WC and has been the unlikely protagonist of two
important wins. Totti is slowly recalling the great player he is. The
situation of Toni continues to worry me. He has not found his place in
this team. Italy is not even exploiting his size, since leaders Pirlo
and Gattuso keep the ball close to the ground, and so does Totti.
Finally, my praise to Perrotta, a player that has never quite convinced
me. I had doubts but he has been an excellent team player.
Germany put together an excellent team with several very promising
young players. They have a basis for another WC and, as Benny points
out, they have unburied the classic style, somewhat lost in the last
several world cups.
Clean game, classic game, good refereeing.
Best,
SMT
jbergm...@gmail.com
I can't call that a great match unless you were a fan of the Italian
team. For my taste, the Italians still play a too defensive catenaccio
style of football. Germany controlled possesion for large portions
ofthe game with Italy sitting back. The game really only opened up in
the extra time, where Italy got the winner.
JK
Benny wrote:
>>
>>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
>>
>
>
> I can't call that a great match unless you were a fan of the Italian
> team. For my taste, the Italians still play a too defensive catenaccio
> style of football. Germany controlled possesion for large portions
> ofthe game with Italy sitting back. The game really only opened up in
> the extra time, where Italy got the winner.
I kind of agree. It was extremely well-played, but I wouldn't consider
it a classic. (If I were an Italian fan, I would surely think so,
though; what a great victory.) It seemed from early on the Italian game
plan seemed to be about conceding parts of the field and quickly
counter-attacking. (And why not, they're good at it.) I don't think
they played overly defensive, but at the same time they didn't look
particularly purposeful on offense (or all that interested) until very
late and in extra time. I was also completely frustrated by the
Germans' sudden hesitancy about taking shots from distance (especially
Ballack, more on him in a minute). All tournament they had been quick
to pull the trigger, but suddenly they looked like they were trying to
walk it in. Finally, Ballack pulled a disappearing act. I thought he
was great against Argentina and his defensive efforts in that game alone
made him a hero. I'm a little concerned however that he has somehow
reimagined himself as a DM, because that's about all the contributions
he made to this match. He's pretty good at it, but he needed to be
much more forceful in the final third.
Still, it's good to see teams play this well, and also BE ALLOWED TO
PLAY THIS WELL without a ref mucking everything up.
Calimero
jbergm...@gmail.com wrote:
> I can't call that a great match unless you were a fan of the Italian
> team. For my taste, the Italians still play a too defensive catenaccio
> style of football. Germany controlled possesion for large portions
> ofthe game with Italy sitting back. The game really only opened up in
> the extra time, where Italy got the winner.
Ball possession - Germany 47 %, Italy 53 %.
Max
JK
I've seen that stat, but honestly, it didn't feel that way to me watching.
Benny
> From : AixlaChapelle <alema...@t-online.de>
>Hi Benny,
Hi Ingo.
>great report of that classic game
Thanks.
>Congrats to Italy and all the Italians here in this newsgroup! Your team
>deserves a place in the final and has everything to win it. What an epic
>battle that was.
>Why do we always struggle against Italy? Perhaps it's because the German
>success in the past relied very much on the balance of the team. But
>Italy is the only team in the world which has an answer to all the
>qualities the Germans have, at least I cannot find any aspect of the
>game giving Germany a crucial advantage. (Well, perhaps penalties are
>the only exception:-)
>
>Germany is physically strong => so is Italy
>Germany is self-confident =>so is Italy
>Germany is well organized => so is Italy
>Germany never gives up => neither does Italy
>Germany is good in the air => so is Italy
I think you're selling yourself short here. Maybe Italy is confident
against Germany but most times the team have anything but an air of
confidence about them. I would also say it's Germany who never give up,
Italy self-destruct. What I have seen in this WC, which is worrying if
you don't support Germany, is a return to the confident, aggressive,
direct football the team played during the glory days. You also have two
great strikers who could potentially form a partnership that can be as
good as Klinsmann & Voller.
>But Italy is technically superior to Germany, today more than 1970 which
>was a very close game. Maybe not 1972 and 1974, but well, who knows, we
>didn't meet.
>
>Yesterday, this skill certainly made the difference with Pirlo being
>cold-blooded enough to play such a beautiful pass in the 119th. minute.
>Nonetheless, we could have gone through, too, if Podolski or Schneider
>had converted one of their chances. They didn't, and it was not enough.
>But ah, we put up a fight.
>
>I am very glad that we have seen a very clean game with a ref who was
>up to his task. Of course, there were a few situations we could discuss
>now, but, IMHO, the ref made no crucial mistake. The handbal of the
>Italian defender, well, slight contact, but even I would not have
>pointed to the spot. So no need to blame anyone.
>
>Again, congrats Italia, I am looking forward to the final nonetheless.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Ingo
Good luck against Portugal and in 2008 (unless you play Italy or
England!).
http://soccer-europe.com
Rss feed : http://soccer-europe.com/RSS/News.xml
Benny
>I can't call that a great match unless you were a fan of the Italian
>team. For my taste, the Italians still play a too defensive catenaccio
>style of football. Germany controlled possesion for large portions
>ofthe game with Italy sitting back. The game really only opened up in
>the extra time, where Italy got the winner.
Italy had more shots on goal and more possession at no point did they
sit back, invite pressure and hit on the break. A team playing
catenaccio would NOT attack in the last minute of extra time.
Benny
>Just to add that Klinsmann could have gotten burned with the offside
>trap he set up in the first half. Toni had yet another clueless day,
>otherwise he would have moved back a bit and tried to organize quick
>touches with Totti in order to defeat the trap. I liked Gilardino
>yesterday; he played intelligently and created danger. I hope he keeps
>it up. I am also glad that Del Piero got his goal, particularly in
>these circumstances.
Gilardino's link-up play has improved immensely at Milan his problem
this season has been his finishing and in terms of movement he still
lags behind Inzaghi though is much better at finding space than
Shevchenko ever was. It will be interesting to see his role next season
without Shevchenko and maybe Kaka', if Milan are relegated.
>important wins. Totti is slowly recalling the great player he is. The
>situation of Toni continues to worry me. He has not found his place in
>this team. Italy is not even exploiting his size, since leaders Pirlo
>and Gattuso keep the ball close to the ground, and so does Totti.
>Finally, my praise to Perrotta, a player that has never quite convinced
>me. I had doubts but he has been an excellent team player.
He works hard but hasn't shown his Roma form, nor has Totti and
Camoranesi has been utter shite. Toni has been useful as a battering
ram, wearing down defences then Iaquinta comes on and takes advantage.