Time to go home. Francesco Totti drove a spot kick high into the net eight seconds from end of the game. A heart breaking loss for Australia who thought extra time is needed to decide the outcome of the game; defender Lucas Neill tackled down Fabio Grosso which left Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo no choice but to point to the spot.
A superpower in football, Italy is the heavy favorites to crush a newcomer named Australia who advanced to the next stage despite leading their opponents no more than 5 minutes. Call it luck, I call it Hiddink.
A perennial powerhouse or a newcomer — Powerhouse.
Beckham unloaded the shot on the 60th minute that gave him his first goal in three years for England and at the same time pushing his team to the quarter finals. Christian Mora dove for the ball a micro-second earlier as he was able to touch the ball before it forced it’s way in what seemed to have scratched the left pole before hitting the net.
Judging by the way the two teams played it could have gone either way that saw Maxi Rodriguez scoring on a left-footed shot on the 98th minute.
It was a close game which started with flare as captain Marquez scored the first goal of the game on the 6th minute followed by a controversial goal from Crespo of Argentina in the 10th minute wherein Jared Borgetti of Mexico seemed to have headed the ball towards the back of the net.
Argentina is far better than anyone expected or gauged prior to the tournament. They have been scoring at will and their young lineup which includes Lionel Messi is showing enormous aggresiveness in attack, and a rampage during the group stage. With a draw and two wins which includes a 6 goal output in one of them, people deep inside are expecting a string of shots and goals scored in the tournament.
A tricky opponent is when your against a birthday celebrant — Juan Riquelme.
Sweden clamped down on Miroslav Klose, the leading goal scorer of the group stage tournament, enroute to fueling both plays to set the stage for Lukas Podolski to shine in their game. On the first goal Miroslav Klose fired a shot at the goal that saw Isaksson deflecting the ball which bounced back toward Podolski’s line firing the ball behind the net as Sweden’s goalkeeper was still lying on the field.
People are going to watch and see who among the two teams are going out of the tournament. Sweden is feeling the pressure playing against the host nation who will be going in hordes 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.
The odds are against Sweden 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, and winning all three matches — 9 points, etc .
The final 16 of the tournament has been decided and we have seen some teams meeting our expectations while some were big surprises in the tournament.
The biggest losers were led by United States ranked number 5 by FIFA and Czech Republic seated at number 2 prior the start of the competition. We have also seen some higher rank teams like Japan (18), Tunisia (21), Iran (23), Croatia (23), etc . left behind by Switzerland (35), Ecuador (39), Australia (42), Ukraine (45) and Ghana (48).
These fans could have been a multitude of wandering fools roaming around Germany had France failed to qualify to the next round. The winner of World Cup Finals in 1998 could have sent a brain twisting frustration to it’s fans had they not shaved off the tough and hardworking Togo.
Lousy performance after an arrogant string of media announcements could not help but put a gag on his mouth and show no signs of comeback for the United States team. The disappointing performance of U.S. in the world cup would weigh in the decision of Arena and U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati if they should part ways or make another run.
