Day 22 - Germany vs Italy

[TonyStarks]

Make your predictions right here .... I'll go with:

Germany 2-1 Italy

I can't imagine the hosts losing out in the semi's against a very average looking Italian team.

[phylay]

The Italians are as average as the German!
Italy 2 Gremany 1

And I am fed up with competitions that are always won by the host!

[TonyStarks]

Well Germany made it to the finals in 2002 so its not the fact they're hosting that they've made it this far (compared to Egypt winning the African Cup in 2006 or Tunisia in 2004)

[phylay]

Well Germany made it to the finals in 2002 so its not the fact they're hosting that they've made it this far (compared to Egypt winning the African Cup in 2006 or Tunisia in 2004)

True, but Korea (the host) which is just an everage team made it to semi-finals in 2002!!!
I know it is not like what happens with the CAN, may be the tifosi effect...

[Amina-DZ]

This game really is too close to call and it is getting harder and harder to bet against the hosts...I'm just amazed that "the worst German team in a long time" managed to get into the semis! Italy have a very solid defence, having only one goal scored against them by Zaccardo Attack-wise, the Germans seem to have the edge for the moment but Italy shouldn't be underestimated. So really, this game could go either way and I expect it to be very tight. Whoever wins will win in PKs (Germany) or will win 1-0.

Italy may be more counter attack v. Germany, but I see this as Germany probing and probing and Italy counter attacking.

I'll go with Italy 1-0 Germany

Apparently Frings is NOT allowed to play against Italy.

[phylay]

This game really is too close to call and it is getting harder and harder to bet against the hosts...I'm just amazed that "the worst German team in a long time" managed to get into the semis! Italy have a very solid defence, having only one goal scored against them by Zaccardo Attack-wise, the Germans seem to have the edge for the moment but Italy shouldn't be underestimated. So really, this game could go either way and I expect it to be very tight. Whoever wins will win in PKs (Germany) or will win 1-0.

Italy may be more counter attack v. Germany, but I see this as Germany probing and probing and Italy counter attacking.

I'll go with Italy 1-0 Germany

Apparently Frings is NOT allowed to play against Italy.

Well it is not really the worst one. It must b one of the youngest and less experimented...but this is nearly the same team that reached the finals 4 years ago

And Frings deserves it, there was no need to beat the other player..

[phylay]

Italy has faced Germany 5 times in the world cup tournaments, and Italy has won 4 times!
Both teams won the cup 3 times, so it is a good opportunity for both to be the one with 4 world cups behind Brazil and their 5 cups