FIFA WORLD CUP 2006: GERMANY... A RECAP.

Well what a world cup it was… For one, the team that I was supporting won the coveted trophy…and for another Germany united as a nation to spur everyone on…

Well lets get on with the rewind::::

Group Stages:

Well, did the group stages see enough surprises? Of course they did… Here they are the main features of the first round,

Ecuador beat both Poland and Costa Rica to reach the second round in group A
Voracious home support puts Germany on top of Group A beating all the others and scoring 8 goals in 3 matches.
England huff and puff to qualify on top of Group B inspite of Sweden playing quite well…
Trinidad and Tobago get their first ever world cup point in Group B with a draw off Sweden.
Both Argentina and the Dutch are pushed to the limit by the Elephants from Ivory Coast who end up losing very marginally in both matches in Group C.
Argentina slam 6 past hapless Serbia & Montenegro to top the group with the Dutch in second from Group C.
Portugal topped Group D comfortably with Mexico scraping in second over Angola and Iran.
Now onto Group E, this group provided the most excitement of them all. Italy and Ghana qualified to the next round inspite of the Czech Rep. (World Ranking:2) and the USA (World Ranking: 5).
Ghana was one of the surprise packages of the tournament. They lost to Italy in the first game but rallied back to beat both the Czech (2-0) and the Americans (2-1). The passion and commitment shown in their own innocence bought smiles to everyone who watched them play…
Group F saw Brazil advance as expected but also saw Australia make it to the next round, thanks mainly to their come-from-behind win over Japan in their opening game… Croatia and Japan were a shadow of their former selves…
Group G was another surprising group with the Swiss qualifying at the expense of Korea… while France managed to just scrape through to the next round with unimpressive performances.
Group H saw Spain and Ukraine qualify as expected with Spain thoroughly dominating the group with a young side…

A plethora of goals were scored in the first round…117 in all…

On to the second round:

Germany beat Sweden comfortably with early strikes within the first ten minutes… Argentina had to wait till extra time and a brilliant Maxi Rodriguez goal to put it past Mexico who actually played better.

A 10 man Italy had to wait till the 94th minute to score the winner… The winner was controversial. Grosso takes the ball into the Aussie penalty area… Defender slides in and misses the ball… Grosso opportunistically trips over the fallen defender and gets the penalty… Totti scores and Italy are thru…

Switzerland lost to Ukraine on penalties after the score was 0-0 after extra time and created a history of sorts… They were the first team to be eliminated from a world cup without conceding a single goal. They were also the first team to miss all the penalties of a shoot out… Lucky Ukraine…

England managed to beat Ecuador thru a David Beckham free kick. Then came the war… Portugal v Netherlands… Portugal won 1-0 but with 15+ yellow cards and 4 red cards, it ended up being one of the most carded games in history… It was just plain nasty…

Brazil beat Ghana due to lack of Ghana’s finishing capabilities while the resurgent French beat the young Spaniards quite comfortably to notch up another one of the upsets.

Quarter Finale:

Argentina and Germany played a brilliant match which saw Argentina take the lead in the second half and Germany equalizing 15 minutes later… Argentina were unwise to substitute their star players when they took the lead and that affected them… When they extra time, they were ultra defensive and 2 brilliant saves by Jens Lehmann ensured Germany’s progress via the shoot out…

Italy, who had the easiest Q/F on paper, duly dispatched Ukraine home with a comfortable 3-0 win.
England managed to hold off Portugal and take the game into penalties after Wayne Rooney was sent off… But then 2 saves by Ricardo ensured Portugal’s progress.

Then came the big shocker as France capitalized on a defensive lapse by Brazil to beat them 1-0 and go on to the semis…

The Semi-Finals

France beat Portugal as the Portuguese could not capitalize on the defensive lapses while Italy beat Germany in the dying minutes of extra time to get to the final…

3rd / 4th Playoff:

Germany totally dominated the Portuguese as Bastian Schweinsteiger’s brace was enough to see Germany clinch 3rd place in front of a vociferous home crowd.

THE GRAND FINALE: Salient features.

Very nice matchup… Italy dominating the first half…after Zidane scored an early goal… Italy equalizing soon…
French domination of the second half but nothing to deter the Azzuri defense…
Zidane’s crazy headbutt and sending off in extra time
And finally Italy winning on penalties… Something which they have never done before…
A fitting World cup and a fitting tribute to the Italian defense….

The event ends with Miroslav Klose (Ger) winning his second Golden Boot in a row, Gigi Buffon (ITA) winning the Lev Yashin Best Goalkeeper award, Lukas Podolski (Ger) with the best young player and Zinedine Zidane (Fra) with the Golden Ball...

Hopefully the next cup will be quite as intriguing as this one...
See you guys in 2010 @ South Africa…

Good night… and Good luck
May the Force be with you…

Italy v Germany: FIFA World cup 2006 Semi-final…04th July 2006

Wow what a match!!! First of all, I managed to watch the match at the multiplex in office (BIG SCREEN) and that was awesome… Second of all, it was a rockin good match…

The Prelude: Italy had a relatively easier run to the semis and hadn’t been tested by anyone except Australia (who unfortunately lost due to a bad refereeing decision)… They had also beaten Germany in a friendly recently 4-1… So history was on Italy’s side you may think…
Wrong… think again…

Germany were playing in Dortmund where they hadn’t lost ever…that’s 35 years without a loss in Dortmund… on their way Germany had managed to eliminate powerhouses like Sweden and Argentina… Germany beat Argentina in a shootout which proved to everyone that Germany can never be beaten on the penalties… Germany hadn’t lost a shootout in the World cup ever… and the only time they ever lost one was in an EURO championships in the 70s.

So get set for a rocker…

The Game: Italy started attacking right away… With the lion share of possession you might have expected them to take the lead, but they just couldn’t beat Jens Lehmann (the German Goalie) and the German defense… So now Germany get a few chances but they are thwarted brilliantly by the Italian defense and captain Cannavaro… He had one brilliant match…

So it goes back and forth… Italy generating chances through Pirlo and Totti, while Germany attacked through Ballack, Lahm and Schneider.

Half Time: Score 0-0

2nd half sees a rejuvenated German team who attack like crazy… Italy is pushed to the back foot… The solid Azzuri defense does not give way, suppressing wave after wave of German attack… Odonkor and Schweinsteiger arrive to take it up a notch for Germany.
Italy respond by getting in Gillardino and Iaquinta…

Full Time: Scores are still 0-0….
The extra time begins with a flurry of chances at the German goal by Gillardino and Iaquinta… Two shots by Italy hitting the post… Italy take control and continue attacking… Soon Del Piero and Neuville arrive for Italy and Germany respectively…

Lehmann continues to save everything thrown at him…

Podolski has his shot saved by Buffon… And soon everyone is expecting penalties…
Italy must avoid penalties coz they have never won a shootout…

118’ of the match…Pirlo passes the ball to Grosso within the box, Grosso turns and lets one go to the far post…. GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL…

Italy have taken the lead… The minority crowd erupts. The Germans are shell shocked… Only 2 minutes to go and Germany goes on the attack and they almost get another shot in when the ball is cleared by the Italian defense, only to lead into a counter attack… Gillardino passes to Del Piero who beats Lehmann one on one as Italy and their supporters erupt in a frenzy… the home side are distraught… 2 goals in 2 minutes sends
the hosts packing and Italy to the final…

The Germans are distraught but have to reassure themselves that their young squad will have more chances. The Italians, meanwhile, head to Berlin…

What a night!!! What an experience!!!