mindless ramblings » 2006 World Cup

Final: Italy vs France

Soo Wei — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:31:02 +0000

Despite going all the way to a penalty shootout, it was still a good final. We made our way down to Commercial Drive to soak up the atmosphere and the whole street was PACKED! After passing lineup after lineup of people waiting to get a seat at the many pubs and restaurants, we finally found a pretty decent view in front of a little Italian cafe.

Zinedine Zidane put the French ahead in the 7th minute with a cheeky little penalty (that almost missed), but the Italians struck back with a excellent header by Marco Materazzi just over 10 minutes later. The game kinda settled into a lull, with both sides producing a fair number of half chances but none taken. The managers started making tactical changes, trying to outwit each other. The French lost Patrick Vieira to injury after 56 minutes, and the Italians took off Francesco Totti, who hasn’t had a great World Cup. Despite all their changes, there wasn’t a lot of action until a moment of madness by Zidane in extra time. Materazzi said something, Zidane didn’t like it and BAM! Thanks to Youtube, you can now watch it over and over again!

Click here if the video doesn’t load.

I think the Italians deserve their win. They have been at their best throughout the tournament, with a rock solid defence and goalkeeper. Watching it surrounded by Italian fans (and the occasional Frenchman) was just fantastic. Although I got to smell BBQ smoke for 3 hours, and someone split ketchup on my white shoes and jeans, it was totally worth it!

Semi Final: Portugal vs France

Soo Wei — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:42:45 +0000

This matchup wasn’t as exciting or dramatic as the first one, but it was still pretty ok. Portugal looked exactly like how they played against England, toothless in attack (blame the lone striker formation) and a lot of “simulation”. It was no surprise then that France went through, thanks to a foul on Thierry Henry, who then let Zinedine Zidane place it into the bottom left corner for the decisive goal. Portugal have done well to reach the semi finals stage though, I didn’t expect them to make it past the Round of 16 so they should be pleased with their performance. Franck RibÃ©ry was as exciting as ever and I can’t wait to watch him face up against the rock-solid Italian defence!

Semi Final: Germany vs Italy

Soo Wei — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:54:43 +0000

Oh a fantastic first Semi Final! Germany and Italy fought it out for 119 minutes before Fabio Grosso, the man who “fell down” to earn the decisive penalty against Australia in the Round of 16, curled the ball past an excellent Jens Lehmann. Before the goal, the Italians had looked pretty satisfied to sit back and let the game go to penalties, but somehow they managed to create a good chance and take advantage. They really could have scored earlier too, with two chances hitting the bar in quick sucession. No worries for Germany though, they have done well despite the youth in their squad, and they have a bright future ahead of them.

Quarter Finals: Day 2

Soo Wei — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 05:45:36 +0000

England vs Portugal
The hex strikes again! For the third major tournament in a row, England have gone home thanks to a penalty shootout. This time, Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher all missed from the spot while Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored the final penalty to guarantee Portugal’s spot in the final four. The two teams pretty much cancelled each other in the first half, until a moment of madness by Wayne Rooney got him sent off, and England were down to 10. David Beckham also left the field due to injury… it’s probably the last World Cup game he will ever play. He was in tears sitting on the sidelines. England stubbornly held on though, and Portgual never really looked scoring… especially after LuÃs Figo went off. England end their reign under Sven-GÃ¶ran Eriksson with another defeat by a team led by Luiz Felipe Scolari… too bad for them!

Brazil vs France
France scored only one goal, but it was a crucial one as it was enough to beat Brazil. The reigning world champions went out tamely, with their all-star forward line misfired and spluttered through the whole game. It was left to Thierry Henry to finish off a wonderful Zinedine Zidane set piece to ensure that we will see a new world champion on July 9th. I would have expected Brazil to have tried hardly, but they didn’t get into gear until it was too late. Ronaldinho had a great chance with a minute left from a free kick, but he put it just over. They’ll come back even stronger in 2010 though… you know it.

Quarter Finals: Day 1

Soo Wei — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 04:32:43 +0000

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. JosÃ© 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.

Round of 16: Day 4

Soo Wei — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 07:32:59 +0000

Brazil vs Ghana
Chubby Ronaldo scored the opener for Brazil to become the all time leading scorer in World Cup finals history and led the Brazilians to a solid 3-0 victory over Ghana. Adriano doubled the lead in first half injury time and ZÃ© Roberto added a third late on to finish the brave Ghanians off. They should be very proud of their achievements, having qualified from a group that included Italy, the Czech Republic and USA.

France vs Spain
For me this was the highlight of the round of 16. France looking to put the horrors of Korea/Japan 2002 behind them, and Spain looking to show that they can achieve great things on the international stage. Both teams were pretty cautious in the first half, until David Villa converted a penalty for the Spaniards. This spurred the French into action, and they got their equalizer four minutes before half time. Patrick Vieira’s through ball for Franck RibÃ©ry was perfect, and he rounded the keeper to level the score. Luis AragonÃ©s made a double substitution to change things up, but it didn’t really work. Instead, a Zinedine Zidane free kick found its way to an unmarked Viera, whose header took a cruel deflection off Sergio Ramos and into the net. Spain sent men forward to rescue the game, but this left the back exposed and they paid the price when Zidane beat the offside trap, beat two players before firing his shot into the bottom left corner.

Brazil now meet France in what promises to be the highlight of the Quarter Finals stage. It’s a repeat of the 1998 World Cup Final, in which Zidane scored two goals to lead the French to a 3-0 victory. Mark your calendars, this game will be good!

Round of 16: Day 3

Soo Wei — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 03:41:52 +0000

Italy vs Australia
It was heartbreak for the Aussies as they went out to a 95th (!) penalty after Lucas Neill supposedly fouled Fabio Grosso. To me it looked more like Gross was looking for the penalty but whatever the reason, the referee pointed to the spot and Francesco Totti made no mistake from the spot to send the Aussies home. Other from the penalty, the Aussies looked pretty good throughout the whole game. They controlled the second half after Marco Materazzi was sent off but could not find a goal thanks to some resolute Italian defending. With the loss, Guus Hiddink resigns from the Australian national team and goes to Russia, who didn’t qualify this time. I wonder if the Aussies can keep this up for 2010 despite not having Hiddink (who reached the semis with South Korea 4 years ago). Still a good showing for a team that hasn’t been to the finals in over 30 years though… they can have no complaints.

Switzerland vs Ukraine
Ironic that the Swiss go home, especially since they did not concede a single goal in 390 minutes of open play. Both teams never looked like scoring and it came down to the first penalty shootout of the finals. Andriy Shevchenko missed his opener for the Ukrainians, but the Swiss managed to miss all 3 of their tries, while Ukraine converted theirs. The Swiss now leave as the first team to go home from the finals despite not conceding a goal. Ukraine will be pleased to have made it to the Quarter Finals at their first appearance at the World Cup finals.

Round of 16: Day 2

Soo Wei — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 04:37:20 +0000

England vs Ecuador
England made their way to the Quarter Finals but they did it unconvincingly. A David Beckham trademark set piece goal was all that seperated the two teams. England never looked confident in their entire performance and they’ll need more than luck to get them through the Quarter Finals.

Portugal vs Netherlands
This game would have been better had the referee not gone absolutely bonkers. He showed a total of 4 red cards and 16 yellow cards in a game that even Sepp Blatter mentioned that the referee should gotten a yellow card for his performance. In between all the cards and free kicks, Portugal got the win via a Maniche shot in the 23rd minute. This was a game between two evenly matched teams that could have gone either way, and the Dutch will be disappointed to miss out on the Quarter Finals. At least its better than not even qualifying for the tournament like for 2002.

If England continute to play like what they have done so far, they should be easy pickings for Portugal… even without the suspended Costinha and playmaker Deco.

Round of 16: Day 1

Soo Wei — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:58:28 +0000

Germany vs Sweden
Two early goals from Lukas Podolski effectively ended Sweden’s World Cup campaign earlier today. Moreover, Teddy LuÄiÄ‡ got himself sent off in the first half. To make things worse, Henrik Larsson missed a penalty that would have injected some life into the Swedes. In the end the Swedes never really threatened and they have Andreas Isaksson to thank for saving a multitude of shots from Michael Ballack. Germany could have and should have added a third goal, but a win is a win and JÃ¼rgen Klinsmann will be pleased at his team’s performance today.

Argentina vs Mexico
I was expecting Argentina to show more magic today, but Mexico put up a good fight and it took something special from Maxi RodrÃguez to end the Mexican campaign. The Mexicans took an early lead through captain Rafael MÃ¡rquez in the 6th minute, but some good pressure on Jared Borgetti by HernÃ¡n Crespo forced him to put the ball past his own keeper just 4 minutes later. Wonderkid Lionel Messi should have had scored the winning goal with 30 seconds to go in injury time, but the referee (incorrectly) ruled for offside. Off to extra time then. Juan Pablo SorÃn put a ball out to the right, RodrÃguez took it on the chest and unleashed an unstoppable volley into the corner. Even Oswaldo SÃ¡nchez at full stretch had no chance at saving that. What a way to win the game!

Germany and Argentina now meet in the first Quarter Final… this promises to be an excellent matchup!

Group G & H: Day 3

Soo Wei — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:59:09 +0000

Group G
France needed to win by at least 2 goals to guarantee their place in the next round and they did just that as they beat Togo 2-0. Well finished goals by Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry put the game beyond doubt. The French must be so relieved to finally make it after so much uncertainty surrounding their performances so far. I thought they played much better without Zinedine Zidane. Zidane doesn’t really fit into the current setup. Players like Franck RibÃ©ry and Henry enjoy playing faster, flowing football and Zidane isn’t really that kind of player. Nevertheless he will be back for the next game and whether he can inspire the French to the quarter finals remains to be seen. The Togolese leave the tournament with 3 losses but being first-timers, any experience is better than none.

The Koreans couldn’t capitalize on their previous draw against the French and prove that their amazing semi final run 4 years was no fluke. The Koreans never really got into the game, and the Swiss battled their way to a well deserved victory and the next round. No Asian teams made it past the group stage this time (unless you count the Aussies, who are now in the AFC), definitely a disappointment for those who thought things would only get better from Korea/Japan 2002.

Group H
Spain continued their run of victories as they beat Saudi Arabia 1-0, despite fielding 11 different players! A 36th minute goal by Juanito was enough to secure the win. Having won all their games so far (including that 4-0 drubbing of Ukraine), the Spanish must be confident of going far in the tournament. France is next and that promses to be an excellent matchup.

Andriy Shevchenko scored from the spot to finish the Tunisians off and cement the Ukranians’ second place finish in Group H. They have recovered well from their nightmare opener, but I still don’t see them going far as I doubt they have the depth and quality required for success (besides Shevchenko). The Swiss are next though, and that’s a pretty fair matchup… so they still do have a chance.