Translated material
Triumph and collapse
Italy made it to the World Cup final
Football Italy is experiencing collapse and triumph at the same time. In days when the best clubs in Serie A, Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, are expected to be relegated to the lower divisions as punishment for fixing matches, the Italian national team, having beaten the tournament hosts Germany 2:0, for the first time in has reached the World Cup final for the last 12 years. On July 9, the day of the final, the Italian community will equally eagerly await news from Rome, where the sports tribunal is sitting, which decides the fate of the clubs, and from Berlin, where the country's national team will try to win the World Cup for the fourth time in its history.The latest news from Rome is disappointing. The prosecutor demanded that Juventus be deprived of its last two championships and transferred to Serie C1, while the remaining three clubs be sent to Serie B. The Italian national team players learned about this a few hours before the start of the semi-final match with Germany. This news concerns almost everyone in the Italian team, including the national team's head coach Marcello Lippi, whose name also appears in the scandalous case, and 13 players belonging to the four disgraced clubs.
But they all seemed determined not to spoil their mood any further. The Italians started the match more actively and created several chances of danger. The German national team, in turn, showed how it can adapt to its opponent. Jurgen Klinsmann's team played against Argentina and looked no worse than the South Americans in combination football. The German team decided to compete with Italy in a closed game and was quite successful in this. Even though the Germans didn’t create anything dangerous in the first half, they didn’t allow themselves to score. First of all, Jens Lehmann can take credit for this, he always chose his position well, and once eliminated Perrotta’s one-on-one situation.
In general, goalkeepers are the main heroes at this championship. Either all the other stars are too team players, or the goalkeeper’s feats are always more visible, but it is possible that one of the goalkeepers will be named the best football player of the tournament. Here, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is the first candidate. His shots in the match with the Ukrainians, in one of which Buffon hit the post with all his might, were played constantly on Italian television. After the second half of the match with Germany, the number of videos with Buffon in the title role will increase. The collection will probably include moments when the goalkeeper neutralized Klose's attack and parried Podolski's point-blank shot.
Extra time was again for the Italians. Gilardino, having bypassed several opponents, sent the ball into the post, and then Zambrotta hit the crossbar. There were moments in which Buffon and Lehmann distinguished themselves, and it began to seem that a penalty shootout would be inevitable. The Germans seemed to believe this too, and immediately Grosso sent the ball into the far corner with a magnificent strike - 1:0. The championship hosts had about two minutes left with stoppage time to get even. But in these minutes only the Italians managed to carry out another attack, which was completed by del Piero with a precise strike - 2:0.
“It seems to me that the idea of bringing the game to penalties was not so bad,” Gianluigi Buffon nevertheless said after the match. - In any case, I was thinking about the penalty shootout for the last twenty minutes. Luckily for us, we decided everything early. And let's not look for mistakes in our game now. We all have to spend too much time thinking about negative things these days.” Marcello Lippi did not talk about scandals and mistakes. “We had the advantage almost the entire match, and it showed in the end,” noted the coach of the Italian team. - At the end of the game we took a certain risk. But despite the fatigue, we were able to take advantage of our chance.”
The head coach of the losing German national team, Jurgen Klinsmann, also tried to hold on. “For us, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament is a huge success,” said the Bundestrainer. - We played spectacular, attacking football and showed that we can fight on equal terms with any team. But when your dream dies, it hurts. Your opponent celebrates that he was able to land the decisive blow on you just before the whistle. Even us coaches need time to get over it.” There's not long to worry about. The match for third place is already on Saturday in Stuttgart. And after it, Klinsmann will have to decide whether he will remain in the national team or not. The decision depends only on him - the German Football Federation and Franz Beckenbauer have long stated that they want to see Klinsmann in this post.