World Cup Recap

In today's anticipated world cup semi-final game between Italy and Germany, all of the allotted time, including two 15 minute overtime periods were needed to decided a winner to play for the championship this weekend. In the 119th minute, only 1 minute before the ref would call the game and force the game to be decided by penalty kicks (in which Germany was heavily favored to dominate in), the Italians came up with a beautiful goal.. set up by an even more beautiful assist. Then to top it off, the Italians ran the ball back down in the stoppage time of the second overtime to seal the deal, and earn a spot in the championship match between the winner of Portugal vs. France, in tomorrow's second semi-final match. Both teams of these teams have played well recently. France is coming off of a decisive victory over the heavily favored Brazilian team; however, they had a slow start to the tournament with two ties, many wondering if they would make it out of group play. However, Zidane is playing well, and Henry has been a reliable scorer this tournament. They happened to be the two that came together in France's only goal in Saturday's win over Brazil.. as Zidane played a beautiful ball from a set piece to hit Henry as he made a cut to the far post. Portugal won all three of their group matches, defeated a tough Netherlands team in the second round, and held off the English on Saturday in penalty kicks. Portugal had an easier first round, and proved worthy opponents to the Netherlands and English, so we'll see how they match up against France. My pick is Portugal tomorrow, simply because I think France won their world cup over Brazil on Saturday. However, if Zidane controls the midfield, and Henry can get open for a header off a corner kick, or free kick, than France could very well be playing Italy over the weekend. Anyways, enough talk about the World Cup. My brother and I have been obsessed with it though since I've been back in the States. Anyone who watches 119 minutes of scoreless soccer non-stop, is truly a fan in my book. Alright, I'm headed to bed. I hope everyone avoided the storms, and got to enjoy some fireworks tonight.