World Cup: Lehmann & Zambrotta stars as Germany & Italy go to semis

Germany advanced to the World Cup semi-finals after beating Argentina 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out. It was a tight and tense game, with both sides giving nothing away in the first half. However, Argentina broke the deadlock in the 49th min. Juan Riquelme swung in a corner from the right, Roberto Ayala got to the ball just in front of Miroslav Klose and his header went between Jens Lehmann and Philipp Lahm into the net. In the 80th min, Micheal Ballack’s ball from the left was cleverly flicked on by Tim Borowski and Klose headed home. A 1-1 draw! In the penalty shoot-out, Jens Lehmann saved from Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso to be the hero of the day for Germany. Sad for Argentina as they were slightly the better team but the fault I must say go to the Argentina coach Jose Pekerman for making some strange substitutions. When they were 1-0 up, he first took out Riquelme and sent on defensive midfielder Cambiasso. That I can understand. But then he took out Hernan Crespo and replace him with Julio Cruz! They played without a striker and without one, there was just no outlet for the defence. Germany just lay seige to the Argentinan goal, without any fear of any counter-attack. If he want to replace Crespo, Pekerman should have put on another striker. He didn't and Germany scored. In extra-time, it was all Germany and then came Lehmann's heroics. Germany are in the semis.

Italy had a much easier time with a convincing 3-0 victory over Ukraine. Gianluca Zambrotta set the tone for the evening in the 6th min. Zambrotta gathered possession at right-back, stormed down the wing, cut in on his left foot and lashing the ball low and hard into the back of the net from just outside the box. The power of the shot gave Olexsandr Shovkovskyi no chance. From then, Ukraine actually played better. Andriy Shevchenko and Anatoliy Tymoschuk had good chances but were denied by some great defence. Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro was especially good, shadowing Shevchenko like a leech the whole game. Then in the 59th min, Francesco Totti flighted in an inswinging cross that Luca Toni only needed to get his head to. Down low, Toni send the ball beyond Shovkovskyi for the 2 goal lead. The 2 goal-scorers then removed any lingering doubts about the result when Zambrotta, this time popping up on the left, sprung the Ukraine offside trap and slid the ball across for Toni to tap into the empty net from all of three yards. The 3-0 result was a little harsh for Ukraine as they didn't play that badly but Italy was very good. Their all-round play was great. Strong defence, steady midfield and potent attack! They will give Germany some problems in the semis.