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Italy's national team became the first finalist of the World Championship. Although in the duel of two equally strong opponents there was not enough time to determine the winner during the main match time, this time penalty shootouts were not needed either, and Italy managed to score two goals at the end of the second extension period, snatching the victory and a ticket to the championship final on May 9th in Berlin. In these matches, the Italians proved to be resilient, defeating the real threat of relegation from Serie A for a couple of Italian clubs before the semifinals. Although they were unable to score at all throughout the entire match and hit the goalposts twice, Italians managed to score two brilliant goals in the last two minutes of extra time, determining the victory for their team - Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero. Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park, 65,000 spectators Referee - Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico) Germany 0 - 2 Italy (after extra time) 119' [0 - 1] Fabio Grosso 120' [0 - 2] Alessandro Del Piero Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm, Borowski (72’ Schweinsteiger), Ballack, Kehl, Schneider (83’ Odonkor), Klose (111’ Neuville), Podolski. Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Grosso, Camoranesi (90’ Iaquinta), Perrotta (104’ Del Piero), Gattuso, Pirlo, Totti, Toni (74’ Gilardino). At the beginning of the match, both semifinalists played great defense. Initially, Philipp Lahm intercepted a dangerous pass to Luca Toni, which was intended for Mauro Camoranesi, and soon the Italy national team captain Fabio Cannavaro interfered with Lukas Podolski and a little later stopped Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski who were playing between each other. As the first half progressed, the pace of the game slightly declined, but the Italian footballers played more dangerously. Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo, aided by Mauro Camoranesi and Simone Perrota, who worked hard throughout the match, controlled the game in the middle of the field. Around the 16th minute, F. Totti made a great pass to break through the opponent's defense and let S. Perrotta enter the penalty area, but the latter failed to control the ball, which was easily taken by the opposition goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. The Germans struggled to deal with the Italian guards, but A. Pirlo's penalty kicks did not reach Luca Toni or Marco Materazzi, and F. Totti's attempt to shoot after a pass from A. Pirlo was blocked by a defender. Later, Per Mertesacker defended against L. Toni's attempt to score. The Germans also attacked the Italian goal. Once again, L. Podolski and M. Klose created an opportunity for Bernd Schneider after a beautiful little interchange, but Schneider shot over the goal. Nobody managed to score in the first half. Both teams' full-backs stood out. Both P. Lahm and Gianluca Zambrotta did not hesitate to join their teams' attacks to liven them up and always returned on time to defense. After more than an hour from the start of the match, after F. Cannavaro's foul on Podolski near the penalty area of the Italy national team, a penalty kick was awarded. The team captain Michael Ballack took it, but his attempt was a bit inaccurate, and the result of the match did not change. At the end of the main time without goals, the match went to extra time, and at the very beginning, the Italians almost broke through when A. Gilardino broke through from the right, deceived Michael Ballack, and shot from close range, but this time luck sided with the Germans as the ball hit the post. Just a minute later, the Germans were saved again by the goalpost - after a corner kick, G. Zambrotta's shot from about 13 meters hit the crossbar of the goal defended by J. Lehmann. Later, the Germans also had a good opportunity to break through. After David Odonkor's pass from the right, the young L. Podolski had a chance at an open goal, but the German striker failed to direct the ball accurately with his head, and all Italian team fans could breathe a sigh of relief. As the extra time neared its end, both teams still tried to attack and score a goal. Alessandro Del Piero, who appeared after a substitution, played actively for the Italians. Just a few minutes before the end of extra time, it already seemed that they would have to kick penalty kicks, but the Italian national team, which had never won such a series in the history of the planet's championships, wanted victory more and achieved it. With an effective finish, the Italians scored two goals in the last minutes of the match - in the 119th minute after a corner, A. Pirlo controlled the ball and passed it accurately to Fabio Grosso, who left no chances for J. Lehmann with a beautiful curved shot into the far corner of the goal. The Germans desperately tried to attack, but during the added time, the Italians took advantage of the remaining gaps in defense - A. Gilardino hesitated in front of the goalkeeper, played the ball to the open A. Del Piero, who made an accurate final shot into the upper corner of the goal and secured the Italian victory. Italy will find out their final opponent late Thursday night after the other semifinal duel between France and Portugal. In the meantime, the Germans will play in Stuttgart on Saturday for the consolation prize - third place and bronze medals. Teams' Statistics Germany - Italy 14 shots on goal 13 2 shots on target 6 4 corner kicks 12 22 fouls 19 1 offside 11 2 yellow cards 1 0 red cards 0 72% successful passes (%) 79.7% 32 balls recovered 34 71.9% successful ball recoveries (%) 82.4% 45.4% ball possession (%) 54.6% Best player of the match - Andrea Pirlo
