your semi-finals recap

Italy 2 - Germany 0: Good first half, dull second half, dull first overtime, exciting second overtime.  The Italians were just a bit better throughout the game and deserved the win.  Cannavaro is a rock in their backfield, Buffon saved the few chances where Podolski actually managed to put the ball on goal, Gilardino proved to be an inspired substitution, and Grosso was totally alone in the box when he one-timed Pirlo's pass just past Lehmann's fingers and just inside the post.  Odonkor proved to be as energetic as ever a subsitution for the Germans, but he couldn't get it done alone.  Klose was almost invisible.

France 1 - Portugal 0: Both teams came out looking for an early goal.  France established control of the midfield soon after that, and then earned a penalty kick when Carvalho whacked Henry from the ground.  Zidane stuffed it into the low corner, but Ricardo guessed right (again) and almost saved it.  In the second half, the game diminished considerably, with Portugal being unable to get anything happening up front and France not really showing any interest in making a serious attack.  Figo looked tired even before the game started, and as the end of the game came close, he looked completely gassed.  Then Scolari inserted Simão and Postiga, the former of which really started making things happen (and the latter took some pretty dives).  Actually, the Portuguese really dove a lot, and whined a lot for calls, too.  Really, really annoying.  I'm glad they lost. At least they made the last 10 minutes of the game really exciting, with Ricardo coming up for the final two minutes of play to try to make something out of a couple of corner kicks. He was the man of the match.

your semi-finals recap

Italy 2 - Germany 0: Good first half, dull second half, dull first overtime, exciting second overtime.  The Italians were just a bit better throughout the game and deserved the win.  Cannavaro is a rock in their backfield, Buffon saved the few chances where Podolski actually managed to put the ball on goal, Gilardino proved to be an inspired substitution, and Grosso was totally alone in the box when he one-timed Pirlo's pass just past Lehmann's fingers and just inside the post.  Odonkor proved to be as energetic as ever a subsitution for the Germans, but he couldn't get it done alone.  Klose was almost invisible.

France 1 - Portugal 0: Both teams came out looking for an early goal.  France established control of the midfield soon after that, and then earned a penalty kick when Carvalho whacked Henry from the ground.  Zidane stuffed it into the low corner, but Ricardo guessed right (again) and almost saved it.  In the second half, the game diminished considerably, with Portugal being unable to get anything happening up front and France not really showing any interest in making a serious attack.  Figo looked tired even before the game started, and as the end of the game came close, he looked completely gassed.  Then Scolari inserted Simão and Postiga, the former of which really started making things happen (and the latter took some pretty dives).  Actually, the Portuguese really dove a lot, and whined a lot for calls, too.  Really, really annoying.  I'm glad they lost. At least they made the last 10 minutes of the game really exciting, with Ricardo coming up for the final two minutes of play to try to make something out of a couple of corner kicks. He was the man of the match.