History heavily favors Germany however, Italian history against Germany favors them. Germany are 13 of 14 in Dortmund stadium with an impressive 59 – 7 goal difference. Italy is feeling the pressure playing against the host nation who will be going in multitudes shouting and cheering like barbarians raising the hearts of their country to unmatched proportions.
The hardest team to go up against is the team who has the 12th man by their side — German Fans.
Without knowing the history between these two teams the odds are against Italy who is facing the leading goal scorer in the tournament — Miroslav Klose, the goalie who replaced the greatest goalie in 2002 — Jens Lehmann, the coach who revolutionized and changed the way the traditional Germans play the game — Jurgen Klinsmann, Michael Ballack relentlessly sending one shot after the other towards the goal, winning all three matches — 9 points in group stage, and dominating Sweden in the final 16, showing nerves of steel against Argentina for a comeback tie and crushing them in Penalty Kicks. etc…
Germany is cocky and bold going into the tournament, confident they cannot be beaten. Their record with Italy put aside; history is leaning towards the host nation when they beat all five opponents in the tournament.
However, Germany has never won against Italy in any major competition and always found themselves crushed by their semis opponent. Just four months ago Azzurri had Jurgen taste the worst defeat in his coaching career and are looking to duplicate that.
Technically and skills per se, bets are on Italy but morale and spirits may just see the host nation get past Italy.
What is Francesco Totti saying?: We are convinced our heads and our hearts are in the right place and we are in the best possible condition to make it happen. Our intention is to write another page in this duel. The games of the past have left a mark and we want to write another page, perhaps the most memorable one of all. To beat Germany on their own turf would be the maximum, It’s a difficult challenge, but not an impossible one. (Francesco is an Italian playmaker who plays alongside Luca Toni which combines for a deadly scoring force)
What is Ballack saying?: All odds will be against us tomorrow, they are a very strong opponent with a long streak and they have beaten us comfortably not a long time ago. They dominated us, also on club level. Not long ago we lost 4-1 with the national team and also with Bayern Munich (in the Champions League). Actually, we have no chance, everything speaks against us, everything favours them. They have had a rough start to the tournament but they stuck to their system and it has always been enough to advance to the next round. Their win over the Ukraine was very impressive. Our chances are much worse than against Argentina and our hopes rest on the crowd. The crowd will be behind us like a wall and support us until the very last minute.
Below is the projected game lineup for each teams:
Germany: 1. LEHMANN Jens, 3. FRIEDRICH Arne, 7. SCHWEINSTEIGER Bastian, 8. BOROWSKI Tim, 11. KLOSE Miroslav, 13. BALLACK Michael©, 16. LAHM Philipp, 17. MERTESACKER Per, 19. SCHNEIDER Bernd, 20. PODOLSKI Lukas, 21. METZELDER Christoph
Italy: 1. BUFFON Gianluigi, 3. GROSSO Fabio , 5. CANNAVARO Fabio©, 7. DEL PIERO Alessandro , 8. GATTUSO Gennaro , 9. TONI Luca , 11. GILARDINO Alberto , 19. ZAMBROTTA Gianluca , 20. PERROTTA Simone , 21. PIRLO Andrea , 23. MATERAZZI Marco
Below is the squad for each teams:
Germany: 1. LEHMANN Jens, 2. JANSEN Marcell, 3. FRIEDRICH Arne, 4. HUTH Robert, 5. KEHL Sebastian, 6. NOWOTNY Jens, 7. SCHWEINSTEIGER Bastian, 8. FRINGS Torsten, 9. HANKE Mike, 10. NEUVILLE Oliver, 11. KLOSE Miroslav, 12. KAHN Oliver, 13. BALLACK Michael, 14. ASAMOAH Gerald, 15. HITZLSPERGER Thomas, 16. LAHM Philipp, 17. MERTESACKER Per, 18. BOROWSKI Tim, 19. SCHNEIDER Bernd, 20. PODOLSKI Lukas, 21. METZELDER Christoph, 22. ODONKOR David, 23. HILDEBRAND Timo
Italy: 1. BUFFON Gianluigi, 2. ZACCARDO Cristian, 3. GROSSO Fabio, 4. DE ROSSI Daniele, 5. CANNAVARO Fabio, 6. BARZAGLI Andrea, 7. DEL PIERO Alessandro, 8. GATTUSO Gennaro, 9. TONI Luca, 10. TOTTI Francesco, 11. GILARDINO Alberto, 12. PERUZZI Angelo, 13. NESTA Alessandro, 14. AMELIA Marco, 15. IAQUINTA Vincenzo, 16. CAMORANESI Mauro, 17. BARONE Simone, 18. INZAGHI Filippo, 19. ZAMBROTTA Gianluca, 20. PERROTTA Simone, 21. PIRLO Andrea, 22. ODDO Massimo, 23. MATERAZZI Marco
Forecast: Germany 2 – Italy 1 (Overtime)
[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Germany, Italy, Semi-finals[/tags]
