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After making is past Argentina in the quarter-finals, Germany’s road to the World Cup final only gets rougher as they prepare to meet Italy in the semi-finals on Tuesday. The Germans needed penalty kicks to get past Argentina in a hard fought match, while the Italians advanced with a convincing 3-0 win over Ukraine. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)
Germany are 2.40 favourites to win the match Italy are 3.55 underdog s The Draw is priced 3.10 The Germans needed penalty kicks to get past Argentina in a hard fought match, while the Italians advanced with a convincing 3-0 win over Ukraine. Argentina were 10 minutes away from advancing to the semi-finals but striker Miroslav Klose once again stepped up and played hero for Germany, heading in a goal in the 80th minute to level the game 1-1. Extra time decided nothing and the match was forced to be settled by a penalty shootout. German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann did his part saving shots from Roberto Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso. The first four German penalty takers made no mistakes with their spot kicks as the Germans claimed a difficult victory. Klose’s 80th minute goal was his fifth of the tournament, putting him two head of Ronaldo and teammate Lukas Podolski in the race for the Golden Boot award. Bet just $20 at Canbet and get a FREE $20 World Cup Bet. Click Here! Few expected the Germans to progress this far in the tournament, with many pundits dubbing them too young and inexperienced in defence. But Jurgen Klinsmann’s men, arguably, have performed better than any team in the tournament so far, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three on their path to the final four. Italy cruised past Ukraine in their quarter-finals match, getting a pair of goals from Luca Toni and an early strike from Gianluca Zambrotta. Once again the Italians were dominant on defence, keeping their opponents off the score sheet for the fourth time in five matches. For Toni, those were his first two goals of the tournament and great news for the Italians, who had such high expectations from Serie A’s leading scorer. View the Matchup. Tuesday’s match has the makings off a classic: Germany’s potent attack up against Italy’s solid defensive line. The Italians have yet to be tested by an elite footballing nation in the 2006 World Cup and their match with the Germans should prove to be the ultimate challenge. If the Azzurri hope to prevent Germany from making their second straight finals appearance they will need to be the aggressors and get outstanding performances from Luca Toni and Francesco Totti. |
