The 2006 World Cup in Germany
A booksmusicfilmstv.com surreal take on the footie fest in Germany
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Italy, on the face of it, cruised to victory to reach the World Cup semi finals, but the scoreline was certainly harsh on a Ukraine side who hit the woodwork twice, and had another effort cleared off the line - all in the second half.

A bright start to the game saw a great run by Italy's Mauro Camoranesi ending with a weak shot, but the Italians were not to be denied for long, when, after a good move, Gianluca Zambrotta unleashed a powerful strike, which Ukrainian 'keeper, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, should have done better with, but could only help into the net with his right hand. The rest of the half was pretty uninspiring.

In the second half, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was finally properly tested. He pushed a Andriy Gusin header, from a Anatoliy Tymoschuk cross, onto his right hand post, and then saved Italy again with a fine save from a stinging drive by Oleg Gusev, and then the follow-up, from Maxim Kalinichenko, was cleared off the line by Zambrotta. Shortly afterwards, Luca Toni headed in a Francesco Totti cross from the left, to give the Italians a two goal lead. The Ukraine, though, were at least going down with a fight, and Gusin headed a Kalinichenko free kick against the crossbar. But Italy looked very dangerous everytime they attacked, and good work down the left by Zambrotta set up a simple tap in for Toni, with just over twenty minutes left. Andriy Shevchenko then tested Buffon with a powerfully struck free kick, which Buffon punched away.

The Ukraine go out after being too timid in their first half play. They have good players, but they need to be more positive in future tournaments. Italy, however, are looking a formidable team, and have only conceded one goal so far in these finals, and that was an own goal. It would be no surprise to see the Italians repeating their 1982 World Cup success, when they triumphed with a lot of problems in the background. This 2006 side, with problems of its own, seems to have a similar mental toughness.

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.