The Azzuri take on Les Bleus in the World Cup Final - I

Well, we've reached the last stage of the FIFA World Cup. What a time we've had!

First let's have a look at the Round of 16 games I've not commented on. Italy managed to beat a determined Aussie side with a rather dubious penalty in the last minute of stoppage time. France finally woke up, and came back from a goal down to trounce Spain 3-1. The Switzerland-Ukraine game was rather dull and finished with the Swiss missing all their penalties in the shootout, while the Ukrainians made all 3. The same can be said of the Brazil-Ghana game which turned out to be rather one-sided, in favour of Brazil.

Now, for the qurter-finals. First, Germany beat an in-form Argentina in another successful shootout, despite haing to come back from a one-goal deficit. Argentina were dominating the game till their coach, Jose Pekerman, went defensive, and took playmaker Riquelme off. After that the Germans equalized and held on till the end of extra-time, and were unstoppable (as usual) in the penalty shootout that ensued.

The next game involved Italy and Ukraine, and proved to be pretty one-sided, as the Ukrainians conceded an early goal and never recovered. Though they did apply some pressure in the 2nd half, the Italians killed off the game with 2 more strikes.

Next, Portugal met England. England made a mess of a penalty shootout again, as Portugese goalkeeper Ricardo stood like a wall to deny the English. The match made news thanks to Wayne Rooney's controversial sending-off. Though England fought hard they never really had much hope thanks to coach Eriksson's tactics which were flawed to say the least.

The final quarter-final saw France upset a fancied Brazil. The French ran rings around the Brazilians who were done in thanks to defensive tactics. Even after conceding a goal, Brazil never really fought hard enough to equalize, what with Lillian Thuram looking invincible in the French defence. Patrick Vieira, and Franck Robery were on song, while Zinedine Zidane was at his magical best.

I'll speak about the semi-finals next time.