Italians gatecrash Germany’s ‘living room’

What a game! Italy and Germany most probably played one of the best games in the World Cup. It was an end-to-end action with both teams showing their propensity to attack throughout the normal time and the extra period. I thought the Italians were a shade better and justified that by two glorious goals in the final minutes of extra time to step into the finals on Sunday.

But first some statistics to ponder:

The match was played at Dortmund, a stadium which the Germans call as their “living room” for they have not lost in the 14 matches they have played there – 13 wins and one draw.

And on the other hand, in the six previous World Cup matches they have played against Italy, they have won none – four defeats and two draws.

As such, the match today could have broken either of the records, or it could have gone as a drawn game, to be decided by penalties.

One more statistic for you now – when it comes to penalty kicks, the Germans are the kings. They have taken part in four penalty shoot-outs and won all of them – scoring 17 out of the 18 strikes.

So when the match started today, most of us thought there had to be a winner at the end of the extra period, failing which Germany would win the shoot-outs. The first 15 minutes of the match indicated as much – that this was heading towards penalty kicks.

But to the credit of both teams, we had a sufficient supply of attacking football and clever defending. And again, when the extra period started, both teams came out firing on all cylinders, trying to score that single goal which would be enough.

Italy started better in the extra period, twice going very close with only the German woodwork to deny them. Germany too had an outstanding opportunity to score through Lukas Podolski who headed wide.

Now to the goals by the Italians – and what beautiful goals they were. The first came in the 119th minute as a result of an excellent through pass from Andrea Pirlo, who after collecting the ball from a corner, waited and waited at the edge of the Germany penalty box to find a free Fabio Grosso. The defender lashed an unbelievable, curling left-footed shot beyond Jan Lehmann's outstretched finger-tips into the far corner.

(119’) Italy 1- Germany 0

And just under a minute later, following a barrage of German attacks, the impressive Fabio Cannavaro (pix) ran outside of his D-box with the ball, and then leaving Alberto Gilardino to take the ball to the edge of the German penalty area.

Gilardino kept his composure, took his time and rolled the ball to Alessandro Del Piero who ran the entire length of the pitch to finish off the Germans with a clinical shot into the roof of the net.

(121’) Italy 2 – Germany 0

And just then the match came to an end. What a game! For me the match turned into Italy’s favour with the introduction of Del Piero, Gilardino and Vincenzo Iaquinta as substitutes.

As for the Germans, I think they have exceeded everyone’s expectations by coming thus far and they have had a good tournament. Full credit must go the their coach Jurgen Klinsmann for bringing a bunch of young players and motivating them to play such attacking football.