First World Cup semi-final lives up to the hype.

This was an intense match from start to finish. The Italians, in my opinion, didn't do much to deserve to be in the semis, but once they got there they acted like they belonged. Great defense, determined attacks on goal, very little diving or other dirty tactics (the dirtiest player on the pitch by far was Ballack), an amazing game by Cannavaro and Gatuso, and two very pretty goals with 2 minutes left in OT! The Italians reach the final with Buffon giving up exactly one goal during the entire tournament, an own goal against the US, wow. My hat's off to the Italians. I can't wait to see the other side of draw tonight!

posted by sic at 04:00 AM - reply - flag:

The Italians were playing some world-class soccer today. In terms of momentum, they and the French seem to have it in them. Well, that's my guess for the finalists, anyway.

posted by charlatan at 04:07 AM - reply - flag:

If I was a forward going up against Fabio Cannavaro I expect I'd weep quietly to myself at night. He was in the right place at the right time for almost the entire night. It wasn't last ditch reaction/recovery tackles either, he read the play, moved to where it was going and dealt with it. This without his usual running mate, Alessandro Nesta, too. Then, if you do manage to breach the defence, there's the small matter of Gianluigi Buffon waiting. I read a few posts on here before the world cup kicked off, questioning how the match fixing issue would adversely affect the Italian team, but it may have done the opposite. With the Italian prosecutors recommending that Juventus be demoted to Serie C and the other three clubs to Serie B, a lot of players out there are suddenly in the shop window, possibly looking for new teams. Oddo and Perruzzi are at Lazio, but haven't made the field much, but Buffon, Canavaro, Zambrotta, Camoranesi and Del Piero play for Juve, while Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Gilardino and Inzaghi are at AC and Toni plays for Fiorentina. While the latter two clubs would probably bounce back from demotion in a single season, Juve would be two years out of Serie A. In a cute moment before the semi final, Buffon's agent apparently announced that if Juve are relegated, his client would be looking elsewhere and Arsenal are among the teams interested. Arsenal's current keeper? Jens Lehmann, the man Buffon was about to face.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 04:42 AM - reply - flag:

In other news, Run Fat Ronaldo, Run!

posted by Mr Bismarck at 04:45 AM - reply - flag:

Seconded on Cannavaro. He's an incredible presence in the midfield. Ballack was either off his game, or just completely rattled by Cannavaro and the Italian defense; he really had a terrible game. All of the Germans look out of sorts in fact, even the reliably electric Odonkor was not sharp. The German's were lucky to take the match to overtime, as the Italians cracked the post and the cross bar with autority. Lehmann (not his fault) was badly beaten on both shots. In the end, Grosso's goal was just a thing of beauty and utterly unstoppable. I'm going to assume the French will retain both their fitness and their form, and if so, they should not have much difficulty with Portugal today. I'll really be looking forward to seeing (by far) the best two teams in the tournament play on Sunday. I'm very interested to see Viera match up against Cannavaro in the midfield and addition to other tasty prospects.

posted by psmealey at 06:58 AM - reply - flag:

Cannavaro's a defender, Smealey, but I'm sure he'll bump into Vieira all the same.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:44 AM - reply - flag:

Tense game with a thrilling ending; Italy briefly showed how fun they might become if they quit taking the air out of the ball. The most game-plan oriented of teams, they worked perfectly: breaking up the flow of the game, getting under the skin of the opposing captain, recovering quickly from grievous injuries suffered during every foul, and finally, scoring when goals were needed most. And how! What great goals! Every time I watch Italy play, and see them score, I marvel at their brilliance, and wonder why they hide it behind such middling, cynical tactics. I'd sure love to see les bleus beat the azzurri in Berlin.

posted by Hugh Janus at 07:52 AM - reply - flag:

Cannavaro's a defender, Smealey, but I'm sure he'll bump into Vieira all the same. I thought he was a defensive midfielder, no?

posted by psmealey at 07:58 AM - reply - flag:

Cannavaro will be bumping into Henry and Ribery probably more than Vieira. Ballack was clashing more with Gasuto, who received a bunch of yellow-card worthy tackles and kicks from Ballack. Cannavaro almost looked otherworldly out there last night, like he was seeing everything in slow motion and was therefore one step ahead, always. What I love about him is there is never any hesitation or doubt in his decisions. He instantly decides what action to take and he takes it. Near the end of regulation I think Podolski tried a run into the area and when he saw Cannavaro waiting for him he got so distracted that the ball just dribbled away from his foot before he got within 2 meters of Cannavaro. If the mere sight of you can wear a player out, you are having a great night.

posted by sic at 08:13 AM - reply - flag:

Gattuso not Gasuto...!

posted by sic at 08:17 AM - reply - flag:

It'll be interesting to see, assuming the Portuguese fall behind, if they'll try to provoke Ribery, Zidane and Vieira. All of those guys are carrying yellow cards, and will be disqualified from the final if they get booked today.

posted by psmealey at 08:36 AM - reply - flag:

The real difference was shot placement. Buffon was gerat in goal, but every shot the Germans made, they gave him a chance to make the save. In contrast, the Italians shot where the keeper was not. Sometimes that was over the net, or wide -- but twice it was in the back of the net. I don't think Lehman misplayed those at all -- I think the two goals could not have been stopped by the keeper.

posted by sportsdot at 08:48 AM - reply - flag:

Nice game. Very nice game. Even though it was meaningless at the time, I was happy to see Del Piero sink one in. The French look damn tough, though. Why oh why can't they have a World Cup every two years? Euro's just not the same...

posted by Ufez Jones at 09:46 AM - reply - flag:

No Sir Smealey, Cannavaro's a defender. As for the Italians recovering suddenly from grievous injuries, I understand there's a past there, but I didn't see it last night. There was one moment where Grosso went down holding his head after being kicked in the leg, but if you watch the replay, he gets a knee in the head. Totti had a scream at one point too, but Borowski had just come through on his left ankle - the ankle Totti nearly lost in a challenge earlier this year. Other than that I saw virtually everyone up quickly after a tackle and lots and lots of handshakes, as if these two great teams had decided to right the card-happy, diving World Cup on their own. And I'm with you, Ufez - I was very happy to see ADP score the second - he's been one of my favourite players for more than 10 years.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:59 AM - reply - flag:

I only caught the two overtime periods, and what I saw looked like Italian domination, but Germany held their own. The scrapped and clawed the entire tourney, using their home field well throughout to boost their morale. Plus that German goalkeeper is phenemonal. He played a great game despite those 2 goals. Germany can't leave this World Cup discouraged. This young team is one to fear in 2010. Meanwhile, hats off to the Italians, who've only surrendered one goal (an own goal to boot) against those 'feisty' Americans. Good luck in the final!

posted by chemwizBsquared at 10:19 AM - reply - flag:

I generally despise the Italians for both their diving histrionics and the catenaccio style of play, but they truly played a classy match yesterday, it was a joy to watch. Hats off also to Germany, who were game almost to the very end.

posted by psmealey at 11:43 AM - reply - flag:

Don't expect a lot of yellow cards to be handed out in tonight's match either, the refs are obviously trying not to send anyone off. This is a good thing.

posted by sic at 01:07 PM - reply - flag:

Boy, the crowd is giving it to Ronoldo every time he touches the ball!

posted by The_Black_Hand at 02:27 PM - reply - flag:

But he's playing great anyway!

posted by sic at 03:04 PM - reply - flag:

He's still a cheat. OK, so I watched France dispatch Brazil in style and thought I'll support France now, and then I saw the Italians perform superbly against Germany so I thought I'll support the Italians. So it's a France Italy final and I don't know who to support. Maybe I'll support the officials instead.

posted by squealy at 06:24 PM - reply - flag:

Well done Italy and France. As long as Portugal didn't make it to the Final, you had to feel it to be a classic. Being completely neutral...it's a tough choice but I'm going with France if only because they maintain the upright position more than the Italians, except for Henry's face-grab against Spain. Let's hope for the mostly positive football we've seen recently. C'mon Quality!

posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:56 PM - reply - flag:

OK, so I watched France dispatch Brazil in style and thought I'll support France now, and then I saw the Italians perform superbly against Germany so I thought I'll support the Italians. So it's a France Italy final and I don't know who to support. Being completely neutral...it's a tough choice but I'm going with France if only because they maintain the upright position more than the Italians, except for Henry's face-grab against Spain. Tough indeed. Here's my back-story: July of '98, my 19 year old butt crosses the pond for the first time, just in time for the semi's and finals of that year's World Cup. I spent the night France won in Eax en Provence (a small, but wild on that night town). Once France beat Brazil, I found myself, with a couple of friends, dancing around a giant fountain in a roundabout, with bottles of wine being passed around like doobies, drum circles everywhere, and little Peugot's driving at insane speeds with French Flags flying out of every window. Probably the most fun night of my life. And I have Zidane to thank for that. Then again, she who may as well go ahead and crown herself my sis-in-law was kind enough to host me and the SO in her flat this past December for far too long and with a scant rent of a bottle of Tequila and some Dr. Pepper. While there, I watched the WC draw live (via the internets), and (maybe...shit was kind of foggy) pledged some sort of allegiance to the Azzurri. So yeah. What to do, what to do? The best plan of action I've found is to buy a whole lot of meat, grill it up, keep a TV inside and pull one outside with the antenna and hope for a classic. Fan. Tas. Tic!

posted by Ufez Jones at 11:02 PM - reply - flag:

Ufez, you have to be shittin me.... I was vacationing in France (Eax en Provence) the night the French won the Cup, and I, too, was at a crowded fountain-roundabout celebrating. I can't testify to the exact location, but I recall older, wide-and-high buildings about, near a bridge, cars being stopped from passing by the throngs of people, and one particular car speeding off, leaving drunk fools to fall off from hanging on at 30 mph. That'd be funny if we were in the same place.

posted by charlatan at 03:26 AM - reply - flag:

she who may as well go ahead and crown herself my sis-in-law *arches eyebrow* is there something my darling sister forgot to tell me during the drunken (well, me) post-semifinale phone conversation the other night? And IIRC, my SO got you to pledge allegiance to AS Roma (*gags a little*), but like you say, things are a bit foggy. I'm only slightly conflicted. Zidane (post WC 98) and the Azzurri (Euro 2000) are what got me hooked on footie in the first place. While I'd love to see Zidane go out in high style, the Azzurri are the first team that caused me to literally feel sick after the Euro 2000 loss. And Tuesday's game was a classic example of why I love the Azzurri - 115 minutes of nail biting and moaning culminating in (two!) orgasmic goals. I just don't feel the same about the French team - Zidane is a god and Ribery has been somewhat of a revelation, but Henry et co.? Meh. In sum: Vendetta 2006!

posted by romakimmy at 05:15 AM - reply - flag:

115 minutes of nail biting and moaning culminating in (two!) orgasmic goals. Dang, that was purty! In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to nominate you for the the First Annual Clam Shot Award for Literary Excellence.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:17 AM - reply - flag:

is there something my darling sister forgot to tell me during the drunken (well, me) post-semifinale phone conversation the other night? note to self: check email 1st, Me/SpoFi 2nd. Mwah! Love you crazy kids. And as far as I'm concerned, TBH, footie is a total metaphor for sex. Long periods of (frustrating fore) play with an occasional (or even multiple) shot to the sweet spot. :D

posted by romakimmy at 06:24 AM - reply - flag:

Long periods of (frustrating fore) play with an occasional (or even multiple) shot to the sweet spot. Frustrating? Occasional? Sounds like somebody needs to refine their technique. Football technique, of course.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:57 AM - reply - flag:

First Annual Clam Shot Award for Literary Excellence. Will it be held on February 27th in honor of the worst post ever?

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 09:27 AM - reply - flag:

Frustrating? Occasional? Sounds like somebody needs to refine their technique. Yes, well, to further the shitty metaphor - even when it's bad, it's good. Maybe I should just stop digging the hole deeper now

posted by romakimmy at 09:45 AM - reply - flag:

I just don't feel the same about the French team - Zidane is a god and Ribery has been somewhat of a revelation, but Henry et co.? Meh. I'm sort of with you on that. While I like this team (and am a huge Patrick Viera fan) I am a lot less enthusiastic about them than I was the 1998 team. That was probably my all time favorite international side. It also included about 5 of my all time favorite players (Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps, Emmanuel Petit and Lillian Thuram), and managed to win the World Cup without having a bona fide striker anywhere close to the lineup (Stephane Guivarc'h? Bon Dieu!). As much as Italy did a little bit to win me over last time around and I might even consider supporting them on a selective basis in the future (which I never would have done before, I always thought they were a bunch of diving pretty boys that played great defense, but forgot how to create on offense when they donned their blue shirts), I can't go there. I spent four years living, working and playing a bit of foot-ball in France, and it is my adopted second country. Allez les Blues!!! France 2-1.

posted by psmealey at 10:03 AM - reply - flag:

I was vacationing in France (Eax en Provence) the night the French won the Cup, and I, too, was at a crowded fountain-roundabout celebrating. Okay, now that's just fucking nutty. I've no idea where my fountain was, but it's not a very large city. Hell, most of what I remember is a lot of hand drums, people yelling, passing around some 4,200 bottles of wine with god knows what else in them, and dancing with some girl in a white sports-bra. After that, it gets a little fuzzy. Hell of a fun night though!

posted by Ufez Jones at 05:51 PM - reply - flag:

I was watching much of the early rounds of '98 at a Club Med in the Caribbean, Grand Turks I think, so of course the crowd (watching the matches) was largely French. They were not very nice to a not very knowledgable fan and so I never support their team. Forza Azzuri! 2-0 again.

posted by billsaysthis at 12:33 AM - reply - flag:

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

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