mindless ramblings

Germany vs Argentina
What an excellent game! Both teams were evenly matched and Argentina was definitely unlucky to lose on a penalty shootout. The first half was a fairly cautious affair, with both sides probing for openings. That all changed in the 49th minute when Roberto Ayala towered over the German defence to head home the opening goal. That really opened the game as the Germans searched for the equalizer. José Pekerman was forced to bring on the substitute goalkeeper, and he also swapped Riquelme for Esteban Cambiasso to shore up the defence but it was all in vain as the Germans equalized with Miroslav Klose’s header from a Ballack cross and a Tim Borowski flick on. Pekerman’s substitutions meant that Argentina lacked creativity going forward and it really hurt their ability to find the winning goal. Extra time produced no more goals so it was down to the penalties. Jens Lehmann was the hero as he saved from Ayala and Cambiasso to put the Germans in the semi finals. The game really could have gone either way; Argentina don’t deserve to go out so early with the form they have been showing in this tournament, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles!

Italy vs Ukraine
I expected the Italians to clean up against Ukraine and they did with a 3-0 victory. Gianluca Zambrotta scored in the 6th minute to open the scoring and the Ukrainians did little to threaten the Italian goal in the first half. The Ukrainians came out battling in the second half and they actually had several solid efforts at goal, only to be denied by the excellent Gianluigi Buffon (and the crossbar). Luca Toni made it 2-0 from Francesco Totti’s cross and he added another 10 minutes later to put the game beyond doubt.