World Cup Final 4

Germany [ Host Nation, Meeting Italy At The Semi-Finals ]

Germany, The Host Nation. World Cup Runner-Up For World Cup 2002. This Time Being The Host Nation, They Have Not Disappoint Their Fans. Lead By Their New Captain, The Midfield Influential General Michael Ballack, Until Now They Have Never Fail To Perform.

They Have Quite A Good Defence Which Consists Of GoalKeeper Jens Lehmann Which Took Over The Goalkeeping Spot From Former Captain Oliver Kahn. Lehmann Has Been Abit Shaky In Between The Post But The Backline Of [LeftBack] Phillip Lahm, [RightBack] Arne Friedrich And [CentreBack] Christophe Metzelder And Per Mertesacker Has Been Solid. No Team In The Tournament has Been Able To Destroy Their Defence Which They Have Only Conceded 3 Goals Until Now.

Their Midfield Is Definitely One Of The Best In This Tournament. With Their New Captain, The Outstanding Michael Ballack Commanding The Area And With Players Like The Tenacious Torsten Frings, The Veteran Bernd Schneider And The Young Bastian Schweinsteiger Supporting Him, Getting Past Them Is As Difficult As Cutting Down A Tree With Just A Knife. Somemore With great Backup Players Like Sebestian Kehl, Tim Borowski And Thomas Hitzlsperger Which Are All So Outstanding, Injuries Won't Be A Problem To Them.

Germany Have A Superb Strikeforce Of The Speedy Miroslav Klose And German Wonderkid Lukas Podolski. They Have Proved Deadly In The Tournament Which Have 8 Goals Between The 2 Of Them. Miroslav Klose Is Also Germany's Top Scorer During The last World Cup Which He Alone Scored 5 Goals. Even Italy Is Afraid Of Miroslav Klose And Said They Have To Single Out Klose In Order To Defeat Them.


Italy [ Meeting Germany In The Semi-Finals ]

My Favourite Team. I'll Support Them All The Way ! Finally They Have Put Away Their Disappointment During The Last World Cup And Euro 2004. They Have Finally At Least Fight To The Semi-Finals Of The Tournament. Will They Be Able To Lift The World Cup Trophy This Time Round?

Their Defence Has Been The Most Solid Of The 4 Teams For The Semi-Finals. With The World's Most Expensive Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon In Goal And The BackFour Of Christian Zaccardo, Fabio Grosso, Alessandro Nesta And Their Captain Fabio Cannavaro, They Have Only Conceded 1 Goal Until Now Which Is Splendid. With Their Captain Fabio Cannavaro On Top Form Now, Their Goakeeper Gianluigi Buffon Has Not Done Much Action As Most Attackers Are not Able To Go Past Their Mighty Captain.

Their Midfield Have Been Superb. They Have Gennaro Gattuso Which Is A Great Tackler Which Plays Just In Front Of The Back Four Which Provides Alot Of Cover For The FullBacks To Run Up And Join In For Attacking. With Wingers Like Mauro Camoranesi And Gianluca Zambrotta Which Are Able To Provide Great Crosses For The Forwards In Front. With Playmakers Like Andrea Pirlo Which Possesses Superb Passing Accuracy And Italy's GoldenBoy Francesco Totti Who Has Great Defence Breaking Passes In The Midfield. The Mighty BackFour Of Germany May Be Destroyed By These 2 Playmakers.

The StrikeForce Of Alberto Gilardino And Luca Toni May Not Score As Much Goals As The Other Teams But Both Of Them Possesses Great Individual Ability. Alberto Gilardino Have Great Pace And Superb Finishing Skills Which Made Him Parma's Top Scorer For 2 Seasons Before He Went To AC Milan. Luca Toni On The Other Hand Possesses Great First Touch Of The Ball And Good Ball Holding Ability. Even Their Backup Strikers Vincenzo Iaquinta And Filippo Inzaghi Have An Eye For Goal Which Also Proved To Be Deadly. The Germans Better BEWARE Of The Azurris


Portugal [ Meeting France In The Semi-Finals ]

The Golden Generation Of Portugal Have Disappeared. The Only Survivor Of The Golden Era Is Captain Luis Figo. Being The Last Major Tournament For Him Before He Retires From International Football, He Has Surely Shine During This Tournament Until Now. Although Old But Still Have Great Dribbling Skills And Pinpoint Crossing Ability, He Is Still being Feared By Fullbacks Which Are Going Against Him. With Midfielders Like Tiago And Maniche Which Are Hardworking And Willing To Fight For The Ball In Midfield, They Proved To Be A Match Even For England's Midfield Pair Frank Lampard And Steven Gerrard. With Playmaker Deco And Tricky Winger Cristiano Ronaldo, The Midfielders Of France Should Be More Alert Against Them.

Their Defence Has Not Been So Outstanding But Goalkeeper Ricardo Have Been Converted From A Nobody Into A National Hero. He Saved Penalties From Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard And Jamie Carragher Which Brings Portugal To The Semi-Finals. With Defenders Like Paulo Ferrira, Nuno Valente, Fernando Meira And Euro2004's Best Player Ricardo Carvalho Marshalling The Defence, Breaking Them Up And Score Doesn't Seem To Be An Easy Job.

Portugal Also Have Great Attacking Forwards Like Pauleta And Nuno Gomes Which Have Breakup Alot Of Defence. Luis Boa Morte Is Also A Striker Which Have Great Pace And Breath-Taking Dribbling Flair Which Have Saved His Club Fulham From Defeats And Gave Them Alot Of Success Over The Years. The Young Helder Postiga Have Not Really Proved To Be A Great Striker For Their Country But He Has Already Shine For His Club. Give Him More Time And He May Be A Hero For Their Country Sooner Or Later.


France [ Meeting Portugal In The Semi-Finals ]

The Mighty France Finally Reached The Semi-Finals After Disappointing Defeats During World Cup 2002 And Euro 2004. They Were Being Kicked Out During The Group Stages And They Even Failed To Score A Single Goal During Euro2004. Legendary Players Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele And Lilian Thuram Has Been Asked To Come Out From Retirement And Play For Their Country One Last Time.

Their Defence Have Been Shaky This Time Round As Age Is Catching Up With All Of Them. With An Average Age Of 30 Between Lilian Thuram, Willy Sagnol, William Gallas And Eric Abidal. All Depends On The Eccentric Fabien Barthez To Save Them. Although All Are Catching Up With Age But There Is Still The Solid William Gallas Which Has Been Great In Defence. He Have Great Positioning And Great Pace Which Is A Great Last Man For Defence, But Him Alone Can He Stop Portugal From Attacking?

Their Midfield Have Both Graet Veteran Players And New Blood. Zinedine Zidane Looks Just Like A Shadow Of Himself 8 Years Ago. Defensive Midfielders Patrick Vieira And Claude Makelele Is Still Very Solid Just Playing In Front Of The Backline Which Provides Great Cover For The Defenders. Wingers Like Frank Ribery And Florent Malouda Are Potent In Crosses And Great In Dribbling.

France Strikers Are So Famous That I Doubt Nobody Wun Know Them. Theirry Henry. YES! It's Theirry Henry. The Great Striker Which Is Feared By Everyone. But When Playing For The Country, He Looks Not Even 10% For His Club. He Is Unable To Shine As France's Playing Style Is Too Different From Their Club Arsenal. Playing A Lone Striker Is Already Difficult Enough But When Nobody Provides For Them, That's It. This Is What Henry Is Experiencing. With His Great Strike Partner David Trezeguet Mostly A Bench Warmer, The Pressure On Him Is Just Too Big. Doubt He'll Be Able To Perform Against Portugal.