Consolation Prize

Sunset Shot, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.


A hat-trick, well almost a hat-trick, by Schweinsteiger, gave the third place for Germany for beating Portugal 3 - 1. It was a very interesting match, and no one could believe that this was just a consolation match. The match was played with all its sincerity, and it was a very good match to watch. Portugal started off very well and had the ball possession for most of the time. But, as in the earlier match, they couldn't convert their devastating attacks into goals. Ronaldo, was moving with pulsating speed to reach the 18 yard box only to find his ball getting lost to the German defense.

This was probably the last match for the King Khan, i mean Oliver Kahn. The 40 year old veteran, was given the first chance of this World Cup, and probably his last appearance for Germany in a World Cup fixture. There were so many cheers for this great player of Germany that everytime the ball reached his hands, the whole stadium would go into cheers and you could feel the love the Germans have for this great man. There was a huge portrait of him covering the full expanse of a bridge that shows the magnanimous presence of this player in Germany. He did make a lot of brilliant saves and showed that age could not do anything for this man's skills.

Another man reaching the end of his career for his country was Luis Figo. He was infact called out of his retirement to come and play for his country. And, it was justifiable that the only goal the Portuguese actually scored in this match, was from a ball perfectly delivered by Figo. It was indeed a consolation goal, but a goal none the less. The Portuguese had given everything they had, and with Deco and Ronaldino playing great football in tandem, made great progresses in reaching the German defense and even breaching it a few times, only to find Kahn standing as the Great Wall of Germany between Portugal and the goalpost.

But the day definitely belonged to one person, Schweinsteiger of Germany. He took the ball all on his own, and beat the goalkeeper of Portugal to score the first goal for Germany in the second half of this match. Within 5 minutes of that, he scored another goal from a free kick, which the Portuguese were guilty of giving way too many of those near their D, and it was left to Schweinsteiger, to take full advantage of it with his heavy and powerful shot, which took the deflection of a diving Portuguese defender to get into the goal. The third goal was the most exciting to watch. It was so cleanly hit and with so much confidence that it was destined to reach the goal from the moment it was struck by Schweinsteiger. It was a very beautiful curving shot that found the far end of the goalpost beating, Ricardo, the great goal saver of Portugal in the Quarters.

The match ended with the third prize being distributed to the Germans, and the man of the hour, Klinsman was all cheered up by the crowd for taking his team so far into this tournament when just 11% of the Germans hoped them to even reach the Finals at the start of the tourney.

Tonite, is the battle of blues, the Azzuries and the Les Blues. And lets hope the best team wins, and we get to watch another exciting and thrilling match to feast upon for the coming days ....