Entries Tagged 'Soccer' ↓

Bastian Schweinsteiger does the hosts proud as Germany claims third place by beating Portugal 3-1 earlier today.

Arsenal’s own Mad Jens Lehmann made a very classy move, sitting this match out to let “Mary Shelly’s Oliver Kahn” play his first match of the tournament.

Tomorrow is the big day, with France & Italy facing off for the world title. Kickoff is at 2PM ET, on ABC.

Thierry Henry drew the penalty which Zinedine Zidane converted to give France a 1-0 victory over Portugal in the second World Cup semi-final.

Les Bleus will face Italy on Sunday in a match, which regardless of the outcome, will be Zizou’s last of his illustrious career.

Kickoff is 2PM ET on ABC.

In a stunning finish, Italy scored twice in the dying moments of extra time to beat Germany 2-0 in today’s first World Cup Semi-Final.

Neither team really looked like scoring, and it seemed that a penalty shootout was inevitable. Then, in the 119th minute, Italy won a free kick, the German defense had a momentary lapse of concentration, and just like that it was 1-0 Italy.

Germany then went into an all-out attack mode looking for the equaliser, which left them open to the counter. Veteran Alessandro Del Piero took advantage of the situation, and German keeper Jens Lehmann was left helpless by his defense as the ball curled around him into the net to make it 2-0 and seal the hosts’ fate.

Italy now moves on to the final, where they’ll face the winner of tomorrow’s France v Portugal game.

Allez les bleus!

Thierry Henry’s second-half strike propels France past reigning champions Brazil in today’s quarter-final. It’s the first World Cup loss for Brazil since the 1998 final, which France won 3-0.

Les Bleus move on to face Portugal who defeated England 3-1 on penalties. England was up against it for over an hour as Wayne Rooney got a straight red for a challenge on Carvalho. It wasn’t that bad of a challenge, but Rooney’s ManUre teammate, Christiano Ronaldo, rushed over towards the ref to demand a red. Rooney shoved Ronaldo aside, which sealed the referee’s decision.

So, it’s an all European semi-final round, as Italy will face Germany, and France takes on Portugal. The only players still in the tournament that I actually care about are Thierry Henry and Jens Lehmann, so personally I hope for a France v Germany final.

We’ll find out by Wednesday night.

At least one of today’s matches provided some drama. In the early match, Mad Jens Lehmann made two huge saves during the penalty shootout to give Germany a 4-2 shootout win over Argentina.

The host nation will face Italy on Tuesday. The Azzurri eased past Ukraine 3-0 to earn the semi-final place against Deutchland.

France and Spain play some amazing football, but in the end it was experience over youth as Les Bleus come up with two late goals to book passage to the quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory.

Awaiting in the quarters for France is an extremely enticing matchup with
Brazil, who, despite looking quite ordinary, still handled Ghana with ease, winning 3-0.

Saturday’s match is a re-match of the 1998 final, during which France, fielding perhaps the best side in their history - all while playing host nation to the Cup - cruised to a 3-0 victory.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am that this match is on a Saturday. I can actually watch it, which has been quite novel for this World Cup.

Kickoff is 3PM ET, with England v Portugal taking place at 11 AM ET.

First things first though, and after nearly a month of constant soccer/football, the World Cup takes two days off before the quarterfinals kickoff on Friday at 11AM ET. Germany face Argentina in the early match, while Ukraine take on Italy at 3PM ET.

Both games should be well worth the wait!