Crashing Dreams
Its always the same !!! The moment the knockout round starts, its the sad feeling of a good team being eliminated that lingers more than the euphoria of a team winning and moving ahead in the tournament.
This was very evident in the Germany v/s Italy Semifinal match. Germany had a great run in this tournament. Just the statistics that a local survey of Germans at the start of the tournament had predicted that only 11% of them expect Germany to win the cup, goes to show that this German team had surpassed all the expectations. It was quite evident from the nature of their game that they had the self belief to win the tournament. Their attacking football along with their strong as ever defense, sent shivers down the spine of the opponents. And, with a tactic of beating the opposition in the early 15 minutes of the match taking advantage of the home support and the nervousness of the opposition, they had made great progress and were favourites to beat the Italians in the semi final, and break the jinx of Germany never winning a world cup match against Italy.
The match started at a superb pace, and there was hardly a moment when you could have the luxury of relaxing on the chair while you watched the game. Both the team's strikers and their defense were immaculate. There were very few occasions that the ball actually reached into the 18 yard box which shows a lot about the defense of both the teams. The world's most costliest goalkeeper, Buffon of Italy, did have to make some good saves, and he really was stuck to his task.
It was mainly in the extra time, that Italians increased their tempo, and started attacking more fiercely. Germans had never lost a game on penalties, and Italians had never won a game on penalties. And this piece of history was taken very seriously by the Italians, and in the 118th minute of the match, Fabio Grasso smashed a brilliant left footed shot curling past Ballack and the German goalkeeper, Lehmann to crash the dreams of the home crowd and scoring a goal for Italy. In the remaining 2 minutes, anything could have happened. The Germans started soon on a counter attack, but had to lose possession of the ball to some very good defending by the Italians. The Italians launched another counter attack and Del Piero had only a single German defender and the goal keeper to beat before he struck the final nail in the coffin, and crash the Germans out of the tournament. It was a moment of so near, yet so far for the German spectators who disbelievingly saw their team lose to the gritty Italians. The Azzuries were through to their 6th appearance in the World Cup final, staking claim for their 4th World Cup title.
The second semifinal between France and Portugal was a complete contrast to the first match. It certainly crashed my dreams of a good fighting match :)
The previous 2 matches of Portugal in this tournament had been marred by some very ugly scenes, and there was caution all around in both the camps as the match started well, and we got the first free kick only in the 5th minute of the match !!! Which meant the teams were not fouling a lot. Ronaldo, accompanied with Deco, who was back after missing the Quarter final match on 2 yellow cards, played some inspiring football. Ronaldo's pace and Maniche's strike were very impressive to watch, and it did create some fears in the French defense, especially their goalkeeper, Barthez, who seemed to be the weakest link in the French defense.
A tackle on Henry in the 18 yard box, saw the referee give a penalty kick for France, which Zidane obligingly took with great pleasure to score the solitary goal of the match. It was surprising that the French didn't try to attack more and sit on the laurels of this solitary goal, defending it. Fortunately for them, the Portuguese lacked the final sting in the attack, and couldn't convert any of their good advances into sizable shots.
The match was boring to say the least, and I hope the French do not relax like this in the finals, when they meet the mighty Italians, who have 10 of their players scoring goals in this tournament !!!
After today's Third place playoff match between Germany and Portugal, it will be just one more match left for this wonderful tournament to close down. Its already getting so boring these days, with so less football matches to watch in a week, and after this Sunday, we wont have any good competitive matches for another month before the English Premier League starts in August. Hopefully, we get to relive the good matches of this tournament in this month itself.
I am expecting an entertaining match in the finals tomorrow, with Henry playing some fast football and Zidane giving great breaks to make France win the World Cup for the second time in the history of the tournament, and present it to their great Zizu ...
This was very evident in the Germany v/s Italy Semifinal match. Germany had a great run in this tournament. Just the statistics that a local survey of Germans at the start of the tournament had predicted that only 11% of them expect Germany to win the cup, goes to show that this German team had surpassed all the expectations. It was quite evident from the nature of their game that they had the self belief to win the tournament. Their attacking football along with their strong as ever defense, sent shivers down the spine of the opponents. And, with a tactic of beating the opposition in the early 15 minutes of the match taking advantage of the home support and the nervousness of the opposition, they had made great progress and were favourites to beat the Italians in the semi final, and break the jinx of Germany never winning a world cup match against Italy.
The match started at a superb pace, and there was hardly a moment when you could have the luxury of relaxing on the chair while you watched the game. Both the team's strikers and their defense were immaculate. There were very few occasions that the ball actually reached into the 18 yard box which shows a lot about the defense of both the teams. The world's most costliest goalkeeper, Buffon of Italy, did have to make some good saves, and he really was stuck to his task.
It was mainly in the extra time, that Italians increased their tempo, and started attacking more fiercely. Germans had never lost a game on penalties, and Italians had never won a game on penalties. And this piece of history was taken very seriously by the Italians, and in the 118th minute of the match, Fabio Grasso smashed a brilliant left footed shot curling past Ballack and the German goalkeeper, Lehmann to crash the dreams of the home crowd and scoring a goal for Italy. In the remaining 2 minutes, anything could have happened. The Germans started soon on a counter attack, but had to lose possession of the ball to some very good defending by the Italians. The Italians launched another counter attack and Del Piero had only a single German defender and the goal keeper to beat before he struck the final nail in the coffin, and crash the Germans out of the tournament. It was a moment of so near, yet so far for the German spectators who disbelievingly saw their team lose to the gritty Italians. The Azzuries were through to their 6th appearance in the World Cup final, staking claim for their 4th World Cup title.
The second semifinal between France and Portugal was a complete contrast to the first match. It certainly crashed my dreams of a good fighting match :)
The previous 2 matches of Portugal in this tournament had been marred by some very ugly scenes, and there was caution all around in both the camps as the match started well, and we got the first free kick only in the 5th minute of the match !!! Which meant the teams were not fouling a lot. Ronaldo, accompanied with Deco, who was back after missing the Quarter final match on 2 yellow cards, played some inspiring football. Ronaldo's pace and Maniche's strike were very impressive to watch, and it did create some fears in the French defense, especially their goalkeeper, Barthez, who seemed to be the weakest link in the French defense.
A tackle on Henry in the 18 yard box, saw the referee give a penalty kick for France, which Zidane obligingly took with great pleasure to score the solitary goal of the match. It was surprising that the French didn't try to attack more and sit on the laurels of this solitary goal, defending it. Fortunately for them, the Portuguese lacked the final sting in the attack, and couldn't convert any of their good advances into sizable shots.
The match was boring to say the least, and I hope the French do not relax like this in the finals, when they meet the mighty Italians, who have 10 of their players scoring goals in this tournament !!!
After today's Third place playoff match between Germany and Portugal, it will be just one more match left for this wonderful tournament to close down. Its already getting so boring these days, with so less football matches to watch in a week, and after this Sunday, we wont have any good competitive matches for another month before the English Premier League starts in August. Hopefully, we get to relive the good matches of this tournament in this month itself.
I am expecting an entertaining match in the finals tomorrow, with Henry playing some fast football and Zidane giving great breaks to make France win the World Cup for the second time in the history of the tournament, and present it to their great Zizu ...
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