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Sports See other Sports Articles Title: World Cup semifinal picks World Cup semifinal picks By Associated Press Sunday, July 2, 2006 - Updated: 04:04 PM EST FRANKFURT, Germany - Getting rid of the mighty Brazil team was the hard part. Taking care of surprising Portugal should be a little easier for France in the World Cup semifinals. But nothing comes easy for Les Bleus. Beat Portugal in Wednesday’s semifinals and they face the prospect of resurgent Germany in the final. The tournament hosts meet Italy in the first semifinal on Tuesday. First things first, though. GERMANY-ITALY - Tuesday at Dortmund This is a meeting of two three-time champions who have reached the semifinals a combined 19 times. They shared seven goals when the Italians triumphed 4-3 after extra time to reach the 1970 final in Mexico, where they lost 4-1 to Brazil. In all, Italy has been in five finals, Germany in seven. They played each other in the 1982 final, the Italians winning 3-1. Italy also won in 1934 and 1938. The Germans have not won the title since 1990 and, despite being the host nation, initially didn’t seem to be in form to capture a fourth. But German teams are renowned for overachieving. They were surprise finalists in 2002 in Japan, losing to Brazil 2-0. Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann has added several young players and, with each victory, confidence has grown. The team still had to go through the tension of a penalty shootout victory over Argentina after a 1-1 draw in the quarterfinals. Miroslav Klose scored the equalizer 10 minutes from the end for a tournament-high five goals, and the team’s comeback from a goal down has just added to the belief that this is their year. The impressive Klose-Lukas Podolski partnership has brought a combined eight goals, but now it comes up against one of the best defenses around. The only goal Italy has conceded so far was by its own defender, Cristian Zaccardo, in a 1-1 draw with the United States. Although Alessandro Nesta remains very doubtful with a thigh injury, coach Marcello Lippi can recall Marco Materazzi after a one-game suspension to partner the in-form Fabio Cannavaro at the heart of the Italian defense. With the AC Milan pairing of Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo making a solid midfield, Lippi has the luxury of fielding Francesco Totti behind two strikers, Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino. That trio will try to unsettle Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder at the heart of the German defense. “It won’t be easy,” said Metzelder, who expects a low scoring game. “We won’t get too many chances, and we can’t allow any. At this stage the focus is more on not conceding.” The matchup has probably the two most consistent goalkeepers of the entire World Cup. Jens Lehmann, who made two saves in the penalty shootout against Argentina, has justified Klinsmann’s decision to field him instead of Oliver Kahn, and Gianluigi Buffon has produced top quality stops to rescue the Italians. PICK: GERMANY 2-1 IN EXTRA TIME. --- PORTUGAL-FRANCE - Wednesday at Munich Brazil is out of it, but the gold World Cup trophy could still end up in Brazilian hands. Luiz Felipe Scolari led Brazil to its fifth title in 2002 and now coaches Portugal, the only one of the all-European final four never to have tasted World Cup success. France has been in just one final, outplaying Brazil 3-0 in 1998. Portugal hasn’t even been to the semifinals since 1966 and has never made it further. That makes the Scolari influence even more vital. The Brazilian won a record 11 World Cup games in a row - seven with Brazil and four with Portugal - before his team edged England on penalties after a 0-0 draw Saturday. He still does not know what it’s like to lose in the World Cup. When France was held 0-0 by Switzerland and 1-1 by South Korea in the group stage, any talk that the team would reach the semifinals would have been laughed at. On the brink of giving up the game for good, Zinedine Zidane has recaptured some of his best form and Patrick Vieira has recovered from an abysmal start to take command of midfield. Thierry Henry’s form has been hot and cold but he still scored the winner from Zidane’s cross to knock out the Brazilians in Frankfurt on Saturday. Franck Ribery has shown several flashes of his dribbling talent, Lilian Thuram and William Gallas have worked well as a defensive partnership, and Willy Sagnol has been consistently good at right back. “We know it’ll be extremely difficult,” said Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira, who made three penalty shootout saves against England. “They’ve got a great team with fantastic players.” Portugal will welcome back Costinha and Brazilian-born Deco from suspension, and that will give Scolari more options in midfield. The two were among a record four players ejected when Portugal beat the Netherlands 1-0 in the second round. Like Zidane for France, veteran forward Luis Figo is performing well for the Portuguese and Deco’s return means he may play on the wing. But he’ll have to get past Claude Makelele and Vieira if is to get anywhere near the French defense. PICK: FRANCE 2-0.
Poster Comment: When Germany played Sweden they called the Swedes "Furniture Manufacturers", implying of course, that's all they're good at. These games are a lot of fun, although, quite serious now. At least no player has been killed in South America yet, because their team lost.
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