Monday, June 26, 2006

World Cup Review

Day 18
Monday, June 26

all match review will be from the official FIFA World Cup Site at yahoo.com or at this address fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/ for more Info

Round of 16
Game five of eight
Italy(2 win and a draw in group play, Group E winners)v
Australia(a win, a loss, and a tie in group play, Group F runner-up)

An injury-time penalty from substitute Francesco Totti took ten-man Italy past Australia and into the last eight of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Kaiserslautern on Monday, 26 June 2006.

Totti, a 75th-minute replacement for Alessandro Del Piero, drove the spot-kick high into the net after Fabio Grosso had gone down under a Lucas Neill challenge just seconds before the final whistle.

Italy had been reduced to ten men following Marco Materazzi's red card five minutes into the second half and at that stage their followers might have feared a repeat of their loss to Guus Hiddink's Korea Republic at this stage four years ago. Instead, Totti's strike leaves the Azzurri looking forward to a quarter-final tie against either Switzerland or Ukraine in Hamburg on Friday.

As for Hiddink's Australia team, they can head for home proud of their performance in Germany, having reached the Round of 16 on their first outing on the world stage in 32 years.

Heartbreak for an Australia side who produced one of their best performances on the international stage. But credit to Italy who for standing firm when down to ten men for the majority of the second half.

Round of 16
Game six of eight
Switzerland(2 win and a draw in group play, Group G winners)v
Ukraine(2 win and a loss in group play, group H runner-up)


Ukraine won through to a FIFA World Cup™ quarter-final against Italy after beating Switzerland on penalties after a goalless draw in Cologne on Monday, 26 June 2006.

None of Switzerland's three penalty-takers - Marco Streller, Tranquillo Barnetta and Ricardo Cabanas - were able to convert their kicks meaning that despite Andriy Shevchenko's miss for Ukraine, Oleg Blokhin's side won the shoot-out 3-0. Artem Milevskiy, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleg Gusev all put the ball past Pascal Zuberbuehler to leave the Ukrainians looking forward to a tie with Italy in Hamburg on Friday.

Chances were at a premium during the opening 90 minutes of this Round of 16 match, but both teams at least managed to hit the woodwork. Shevchenko headed against the crossbar at one end while Alexander Frei's free-kick curled on to the crossbar at the other.

In extra time both Johann Vogel and Philipp Degen went close for the Swiss, but as the 120 minutes ended scoreless, penalties were required for the first time in this edition of the FIFA World Cup.

After a game where penalties provided the only real drama of the night, Ukraine moved through to the quarter-finals on their first visit to the FIFA World Cup. Switzerland were left to contemplate whether a more adventurous approach would have kept them in the competition.

Quarterfinals
Friday, June 30 - 3:00 PM
Italy v Ukraine

Tomorrow Games
The Last two game in round of 16
Brazil v Ghana
Spain v France

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