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Germany march continues

I should say I was disappointed with Argentina who bowed out of the World Cup this morning after the penalty shoot-out against Germany. Argentina dominated the first half although creating very little in terms of chances but once they scored I thought they just lost control a little bit and this was partly because Germany was coming back into the game in search of an equaliser.

In my opinion Argentina got it wrong with the substitutions. Yes, it was unfortunate that Abbondanzieri got injured because that threw away Argentina's game plan out through the window and they were now limited to two on-field substitutions but taking off Riquelme I think was a mistake because then the game was not won. Also when Jose Pekerman, the Argentian coach took off Crespo, he should have put in Messi or Saviola instead to put pressure on Germany. Riquelme's absence was acutely felt in extra time where Argentina just played like another ordinary side.

On the other hand Germany substitutions were quite good especially David Odonkor who really made Sorin work hard in the second half and Sorin's overlaps from then on were limited.

Once again Germany prevailed in a penalty shoot out and you couldn't bet against them especially with Jens Lehmann being so good at penalties. Now Germany meet Italy who I thought played quite well.The match could have been different had Ukraine converted their two chances just before Luka Toni scored his first goal. Also credit to Italy, they did not try to defend the one goal advantage and in the end scored three.

Italy-Germany will be an intriguing match and I am can see Germany in the final again for the second World Cup running.

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