world cup 2006 knockout stage

[calamityman]

first half of the first knockout match between ze germans and sweden.

seems like a blitzkrieg in there. ze germans must have had almost 20 shots on target and two goals scored with no response. isaksson was a very busy man in the swedish goal.

also, with one man down at this point, sweden has a mountain to climb in the second half.

i thought germany under klinsmann no matter how quirky his ways, are a breath of fresh air. no longer are they the boring team they were.

[ninja]

Yes, the Germans are seem playing much more of a faster run-stun game these days, and can counter-attack on the break very effectively. About time! Maybe the fact that Klinsmann, as an ex-striker, has changed this team's outlook.

The Swedes.. what can I say? For me, they have been the boring ones in this tournament.

But boy oh boy, those Ghanaians look the goods, don't they?

[Don Corleone]

Great game! Great fans!
I wonder why the straits times instead of publishing these sad and boring photos does not put instead these fans on first page!!
www.gazzetta.it/Hermes%20Foto/2006/06/24/0J1DA9VA--400x280.jpg

;D ;D ;D








Edit by the BM: Why don't ALL soccer fans dress like that???

I removed the automatic upload of the image, since some employer might not be a football fan! If you are not at work (and the wife is not watching), feel free to click on the link.

[calamityman]

uh huh, that's gonna happen.

thank God the swedes are out. they do have good players and they always breeze through the qualifiers but somehow they just don't click well in world cups..

[Don Corleone]

They were absolutely no where to be seen last night. Germany just buldozed through the defense, efficient, clean, 2-0 in 20 minutes, job done.
Now if you excuse me I have to go and prepare my altar, pray the saints, light the candles, shoot some kangaroos....

[ninja]

LOL!! It is already quite funny when you consider around 80,000 Aussies are in Germany right now for the World Cup. What BS stories are these folks telling their bosses back home now that they have to stay on a bit longer in Germany??

"Some b*****d stole my passport last Thursday and the local high comm may only issue me a new one on Tuesday."

[calamityman]

that's what i told my boss when i stayed for an extra week in oz last year! haha!

speaking about the oz-italy match tonight, obviously people always compare players to players and history of the teams to predict the outcome of a match but we should not rule out other conditions too.

other conditions such as team morale, player trouble (like a bunch of players getting caught in criminal investigations and some others facing the possibility of being demoted together with their club teams), player availability (some are ruled out due to suspensions), player form, yada yada yada.

with all these in mind, i think the socceroos have as much chance to go into the quarters as italy has tonight.

don't defrost the kangaroos just yet don corleone!

[ninja]

I agree. But I also hope the Croatia game didn't steal too much mojo from the Aussies. That was a hard game from go to whoa. No question, the Italians are red-hot favourites on paper.

[calamityman]

i'm hoping the americans took out some of the italians' mojo though.

the italians best be putting on extra armour!

[ninja]

This is courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald online, which has done a piece on Leichhardt's Italian community in Sydney regarding how they feel about tonight's knock-out match between Australia and Italy:

"My blood is Italian, my heart is Australian, [so I'm] half and half, so I think the winner will be the best team tonight," said Joe Pazzano, from Leichhardt.

"I'm going to be supporting both teams, I'm going to be cheering everybody," said Joe Napoliello, manager of Bar Sport.

He also provided a few last-minute tips for Australian coach Guus Hiddink.

"Guus knows how to play against the Italians because he knocked them out last time; I would get the Australians playing the way they have been playing, this expressive football, this fast football."

He also warned the referee to keep his eye on the notoriously "fragile" Italians.

"I think Toti been's practising [dives] ... I'm sure we'll see a few."

And are the Italians too beautiful to be playing?

"They really are. The Italians should just line up for the national anthem and then just walk off the field."

LOL!!!

[calamityman]

first half of the oz-italy match is ongoing right now.

i must say i'm very proud of the way the socceroos are playing. they're not overawed by the occasion at all.

if there is a ball to be tackled, someone's sure to have his foot stuck in, if an italian player has possession, he's sure to be crowded out.

the match is pretty much 50-50 although it says there that the socceroos actually has 57% of the total possession at one point. there are more or less the same number of fouls and shots at goal for both sides.

yeah, the italians do have a habit of falling at every slight touch and the socceroos i think are wary of that. this match hasn't been too ugly this far. besides, i'm sure any guy would wanna play in the next round should they make it through.

one thing any team playing against the socceroos has to bear in mind is that, to beat the socceroos, they have to be ready to play for 91 minutes because they just never say die till the final whistle is blown.

now for the second half!

go aussie!

[calamityman]

the best team didn't win.

makes me wonder why italy doesn't make it big at diving in the olympics. i reckon they're universal champions at this sport hands down.

losing is acceptable but not when the opposition cheats.

anyway, so how would don corleone like having his kangaroo done? definitely not well done i should think.

[ninja]

I'm hugely saddened at the Socceroos bowing out like that, almost on the buzzer, too. And the "foul"? This will be one of those controversies for years to come. But, well done to Italy for making it through. A win's a win.

Still, it is no empty boast to say that Australia has been a huge surprise package in this tournament. Nobody expected us to qualify, let alone get to the round of 16. And truth is, there hasn't been any team - Brazil included - that could say they were sooo much better than the Socceroos.

I'm proud of the way this team has performed. Take a bow, boys!

[Switzerland all the way]

Switzerland lost!

It's so saddening! I didn't watch the match. How did they play?

[Don Corleone]

Ok, I am too old to watch games like that. I need oxygen.
Respect to Australia. They fought as expected til the last minute.
The penalty was just. The australian player tried to block Grosso . No doubts!
The comments of Hiddink show he is bad looser and I am happy to see him out.
I don't know who will be playing Shevshenko and co. on Friday. Italy B? Most of the player have been red carded or yellow carded twice...

[calamityman]

and then grosso had to make a meal of it like as though he'd been shot by a thousand bullets.

but we all have to accept this is part and parcel of the game. i'm sure the socceroos aren't exactly angels themselves.

time to move on.

[Don Corleone]

Calmityman, it's the world cup and at this stage no gifts or that stupid fair play message they try to sell us..'
It's war!
Better chance next time for the socceroos. They played well , and fouled well too!
I am sure we will see them around for a long time now that they are into the asian conference.
Now we play Ukraine. BAsically a one man team Shevshenko.
If Italy and Ukraine play like they both played last night, it is going to be the most boring match on earth with the ball staying in the middle of the field for 90 minutes!

[calamityman]

yeah, at least vincent grella, marco bresciano and zeljko zalac still have jobs after this world cup unlike a certain ahn jung hwan four years ago.

yeah, the italy-ukraine match is going to be a bore. in my opinion, luca toni should stay on from start to finish. he's not given enough respect by lippi.

on to tonight's matches.

the ghana-brazil match will be an absolute cracker for sure and i'd like to see ghana nick it. they're going to be essien-less but as a team, i feel they are strong enough.

and as for the france-spain match, if anybody could stop the old fogeys (france), it'd be spain. nothing else to add.

[ninja]

This is what's great about the World Cup!

There will always be controversies etc, but only one team can get up there at the end of it all. Then, like it or lump it, we have four years to prepare for "revenge" or settle a score... or maybe 40 years in the case of England!

It's the drama of football, the beautiful game.

[calamityman]

brazil vs ghana (first half)

well-taken goals by brazil in the 5th and 46th minutes although the latter seemes a little offside.

what captivated me were the defence splitting passes by the brazilians. i totally didn't expect that coming especially in the first goal.

ghana isn't really taking the onslaught lying down. had their chances. didn't convert them. tough luck.

now for the second half.