The match-ups for the World Cup semi-finals in Germany 2006 were decided after play finished on July 1st, 2006. Germany will play Italy while Portugal plays France. Wait – where’s Brazil?
World Cup Match #58: Italy (3) vs Ukraine (0)
Man for man Italy were the better team on paper and on the field. While the Ukraine relies on one player – Shevchenko – in order to win games, the Italians don’t appear to rely on any one player.
Zambrotta opened the scoring for Italy when his blazing shot from outside the penalty area went into the bottom right corner of the net.
Luca Toni headed a pass from the far side into the top left corner of the net in the 59th minute to put the Italians up by two. He scored Italy’s third and his second of this World Cup match when he guided in a ball from Zambrotta, who dribbled along the baseline and then flipped the ball over the goalie to the waiting Luca.
Credit goes to the Ukraine soccer team as they kept pressing and getting shots on goal that they were unable to finish.
World Cup Match #59: Portugal (0) vs England (0) 3:1 PSO
This was the second quarter-final soccer match to go to penalty kicks in order to declare a winner. England had to play with 10 men for 60 minutes after Wayne Rooney was ejected from the game with a red card in the 62nd minute. A yellow card may have been warranted for the shove of Ronaldo after the whistle had blown, but the stomp on the opposing players thigh (who was on the ground) that preceded the shove elevated the color of the card.
Ricardo, the Portuguese keeper, was instrumental in the penalty kick win as he stopped 3 of the 4 English shots.
World Cup Match #60: France (1) vs Brazil (0)
If you had asked anyone during group play whether France would get to the semi-finals of the Soccer World Cup, they probably would have laughed. Brazil, with 3 wins in group play, and the #1 seed, seemed likely to advance to the final with their consistent play. But France kept getting better as the tournament progressed.
Brazil wasn’t allowed to move the soccer ball through the midfield as easily as they had during their previous World Cup matches. France held them to one shot on goal. One shot!
France scored in the 57th minute when an unmarked Henri directed a long crossed ball, from outside the penalty area, into the right corner of the net with the inside of his foot. Who passed him the ball? None other than Zidane.
In a re-match of the 1998 World Cup Finals, France again beat Brazil.
The semi-final matches of Germany 2006:
July 4: Germany vs Italy
July 5: Portugal vs France