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Congratulations italy for winning the 2006 World Cup.

I was wanting France to win, but after what Zidane did, I did not want him to win the World Cup.

Here is the song that everyone in Germany was singing as Germany was marching towards the the WC 2006 final (54 74 90 2006).

Now that they did not make it, they change the text and now we have this.(54 74 90 2010)

In the beginning of the France vs Portugal game, both teams seem to be even. But, as the game progressed, you could tell France was a notch above Portugal. Getting to watch Zidan play one more time has been a pleasure.

France vs Italy is now the final. A repeat of the 2000 European Championship, which France won. Italy’s defense looks strong. Only one goal against and that was an own goal, in the US game. I want to pick France because three of my favorite players play for France (Zidan, Viera, and Henry). But, I don’t like the French team. For Italy, I have become a big Bufon fan. But, I don’t know who I should support…

I am slowly getting over the fact that Germany did not make it to the finals. I was so sure they were going to make it. I watched a little after the game as the players where waving to the fans and then I went to bed.

I have now been able to process the game and have a few thoughts. What was the deciding event in the game that turned the game? Both Germany and Italy had many opportunities, but the thing that really changed the game was at the start of the 1st overtime. When Italy brought on the 2nd striker. You could tell the Germans had problems and that is also when the Italians hit the post twice. Then, bringing on Del Pero, for what was in effect a 3rd striker was the final blow. Germany did not know how to cope with that. In the end, I believe that Germany was out coached by Lippy. Not to say that Klinsman was a bad coach. But, I believe that Italy made some tactical changes that Germany never were able to counter.

Congratulations to Italy!!!

I am devastated

Can someone explain to me what the deal is with England. How can a team with such talented players have such a poor showing? Or maybe they are not as talented as I think they are? There are 50+ players in the World Cup that are playing in the Premiership. I believe that is the most players from one League. That means there a lot of players good players that the English players have to play against. But, what we saw this WC has pathetic.

Could it be a coaching problem? I do think that having only 4 strikers and 2 of them coming off major injuries and one being 17 years old without any experience is strange. I don’t have a problem with putting a future star on the roster and letting him experience the WC so that when the next WC comes along, he will have already experiences it and he can concentrate on his playing. The Brazilians often do this. But, only taking 4 strikers and one being Crouch (Please explain to me why people think he is so great), I don’t know. Also, I am a big Lampard and Gerrard fan, but I don’t think they work well together. They both have the same role on their club. Sometimes, you have to leave good players on the bench in order to put a better team on the field. If you look at Germany, Borowski does not get to play that much because of Ballack. He starts when Ballack can’t play and comes on as a sub in the latter part of the game to help out. This is something that England might look at. But, I believe a lot of England players where picked because of their name. Why is Sol Cambell on the team? He had so many problems before the WC which had started at the beginning of the game. And if you remember in the England vs Sweden game, he was fault of one of the goals when he allowed the ball to bounce in front of him in the box. Come on, that is a school boy error. You make sure that the ball gets out of the box at all cost and don’t let it bounce in the box.

Back to the bigger problem, what is England’s problem? If it was only a coaching problem, then they would have shown more in previous World Cups. Could it be something in the FA setup and how they approach WC? The season is way to long and the players don’t get a Christmas break like everyone else in Europe. At times, I felt that the players were just tired.

Maybe England need to find a manager who is English but is not currently involved in England. Just to get them to think out of the box. Look at what Klinsmann did in Germany. He brought in new ideas and modernised how the game was being approached. I don’t know. What do you think?

We ending up going to the Fan Zone to watch the game. Around 50,000 people where there. They started with some local band and everyone knew all the songs and was singing along. Great party atmosphere. Then, at 5pm, the game started. Right from the beginning, you could tell the Germans were not playing as they had played in previously. At least from an offensive point of view. But, on the defensive side, they were holding their own and even though Argentina had more of the possession, they were not making much progress on the German goal. I would call it a stale mate. The fans were all very nervous. Not much singing was going on. Now and then, you would hear them chant something, but it was never anything big and prolonged.

The second half started where we left the first half and when Argentina scored the goal, it got real quiet. People where in shock. The first time this WC that Germany was not leading. As the game went on, Germany was not looking that great and my Uncle thought that there were not going to pull it off. Then, when Klose scored the goal, the people went nuts. The singing started and people started getting in and having a little more hope. One other thing that started showing up was the better physical condition that the Germans were in. You could see that even more in overtime. And you have to question why Argentina did not bring in Messi. I think he would have cause a lot of trouble of the defense.

As usual, Germany ended up winning PKs. What is it with Germany and PKs. I don’t believe they have ever lost on PKs in the WC. Correct me if I am wrong. The big hero was Lehman. Guessing the correct way. Don’t know if you guys picked up on the, but they did here in Germany. He had a little piece of paper in his socks that had all the Argentina’s PK takes and the tendencies. The other thing that got a lot of play here was how Oliver Kahn has handled being relegated to second string. He and Lehman have not been the best of pals, but there were showing in TV how he came over to Lehman before the PKs and put his arm around him and told him something and when Lehman came off the field, Kahn patted Lehman on the back and told him what a great job he did. So, Lehman became the big hero of this game. It seems, every game, the people found a new hero.

And then we had those ugly scenes at the end. That should never have happened. You need to know how to win gracefully and you need to lose gracefully. So, of course everyone was blaming Argentina for what happened. Then today, an Italian newspaper shows pictures how Germany’s Frinks being involved in something like that. So, FIFA have said that they are investigating everything, including Frinks. I hope he was not involved in anything. The Germans have been doing so well, and to have something like this hang over them would not be nice. And Frinks would probably be suspended for a few games, which means a very important player for Germany would be missing.

Anyway, I am so excited. I was saying, we have to make it to the final. Playing Italy who Germany has never beaten in the WC and to whom they lost 4-1 four month ago is going to be a tough opponent. But, with what is going on in this country at the moment, it would be such a let down if we ended up not making it to the final. In my opinion, if Germany don’t win the WC now, I will be very disappointed.

You can listen to some audio that I recorded at the Germany vs Argentina game. And some pictures here.

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, we are through!!!!!!
Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin.

More to come later…

Here is an audio post.  It is about my experience going to the France vs Togo game in the first round.