Argentina vs Germany
30th June
FIFA WC 2006, Quarter Finals, Olympia Stadium, Berlin
Unfortunately, this kind of classic match had to come sometime in the tournament. And the result was even more disappointing (if you are an Argentinean fan).
The match was played at the stadium where finals will be played on 9th of July…and as expected it was full house. The first half was more-over one sided with Argentina going ballistic towards the German goal (with some great play by Tavez). On the other hand, some counter-attacks of Germans were really worthwhile. At the end of first half, both didn’t scored.
Second half was delight…majestic football…the one expected from this type of classic matches. In the 49th minute, a corner was awarded to Argentina. The corner kick was taken by Riquelme. He set the right path onto the ball…Crespo dodged fantastically…and Ayala foxed Klose to end a superb finish inside the German goal.
Scoreline : Argentina (1) Germany (0) [Ayala 49’]
Argentineans play their best football when they are aggressive (the LION style). And that is what they didn’t do. After the 60th minute, it seemed that only one team is attacking i.e. Germany and the other defending i.e. Argentina. Also, in between Argentina’s regular goalkeeper was injured while saving an attempt on goal by Ballack and some Franco (with experience of only 4 international caps) replaced him.
Then the biggest mistake by the Argentinean coach (Jose Pekerman) ; he substituted the midfielder, Riquelme and the striker, Crespo with Cambiasso and some Cruz. Finally, Germany despiration ended (in the 80th minute, Klose scored through a header). For the next (10 + 4) minutes, Argentinean forwards (especially Tavez and Rodriguez) tried hard but was unsuccessful all the time. After the second half :-
Scoreline : Argentina (1) Germany (1) [Ayala 49’ Klose 80’]
Extra time : The game was then extended to extra-time. Argentineans tried their best but wasn’t successful. Then came penalties.
Penalties :
Germany’s Neuville took the first penalty and successfully scored it.
Then came the turn of Jens Lehmann to save it. Cruz took it and scored beautifully.
Score – Arg (1) Ger (1)
Ballack (despite of not being fully fit) took the next for Germany and overcame Franco quite easily. Ayala, Argentinean goal scorer was next. He sent a weak push towards the goal, which Lehmann stopped.
Score – Arg (1) Ger (2)
Then Podolsky (GER) and Rodriguez (ARG), both scored making score line to :
Arg (2) Ger (3)
The fourth penalty for Germans was taken by Bowoski, who smacked the ball into the net. Cambiasso was next. “If he misses, Argentina misses the World Cup”...and sadly he missed.
Final score-line on penalties : Arg (2) Ger (4)
South American Lions lost and their dreams shattered.
But
WHY WOULD some CRUZ get a priority over MESSY or SAVIOLA?
Only Jose Pekerman (the Argentinean coach) knows the answer…but now (right after match) he has resigned…in the end, atleast something GOOD for Argentina.