No Controversy as Italy Crushes Ukriane

After the game was over at the Olympiastadion I stuck around for about fifteen minutes watching the celebrations. The German team went together to each corner of the pitch to thank their fans. And the Argentine team came out for a quick salute to their supporters as well. But they quickly departed, knowing that this was not their day.

The singing by the German faithful in the stands probably went on for quite a while after I left, but I eventually snuck out of the mammoth facility. I didn’t want to get stuck in the foot traffic in order to catch a train and head back to the World Cup Blog HQ about half-an-hour away. I was hoping to get there in time to see the kickoff of the Italy-Ukraine match.

At track 1 I had to wait about ten minutes for a train to come along to take me back to the Alexanderplatz. When it finally arrived, the train was already mostly full, but we all packed in like sardines as if we were in Tokyo. It was uncomfortable to say the least…and about four stops later I had to get out and find a new train since the one I was one wasn’t going any further east.

That one came along just a few minutes later and it was as packed as the one I’d just gotten off. And then I got even more squished when a group of drunk young German girls got on the train and started singing and dancing and jumping up-and-down throughout the entire ride. I appreciated their enthusiasm, but to say that they were being just slightly inconsiderate would’ve been an understatement. I couldn’t wait ‘til either I or they disembarked.

Mercifully, my stop eventually arrived and I headed downstairs, grabbed a Middle Eastern burrito at the place we’d gone the night before – Shark Doner, then headed back down Dirckenstrasse to HQ down on Rochstrasse. I made it upstairs to the 4th floor in the 2nd minute of the match.

And before I could even figure out that it was Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere in charge of this one, Gianluca Zambrotta slipped his marker and drove the ball twenty-five yards to the near post where it eked into the net just off the goalie’s fingertips. Me and my associates were all quite convinced that although only six minutes had been played, this one was already over.

But we continued to watch anyway, wondering if Sheva & Co. could stage a surprising comeback. At some point in the early going, one of my new friends at World Cup Blog hq asked me about the fisticuffs at midfield after Germany’s penalty-kick victory over Argentina. I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about and I doubt hardly anybody else in the stadium did either as it was pure pandemonium everywhere around me. People were too overjoyed to notice that one of the Argentine players was going a little loco and that there was a brief melee of sorts that quickly dissipated.

In the 16th Sviderskiy was booked for a challenge from behind and five minutes later Kalinichenko was cautioned for the same thing when he wasn’t even close to the ball; a very easy card to give.

In the 23rd, an Italian striker went down in the box and there was no call – the correct decision based on the body language and reaction by the player after he got up.

Ten minutes later, Sheva’s former AC Milan teammate, Gennaro Gattuso, apologized to the future Chelsea man after committing a foul against him. Soon thereafter I noted that De Bleeckere was calling a lot of little fouls to keep the players in line. In the next minute the AR spotted one of Shevchenko’s more deceptive habits, “chesting” the ball down with the help of his upper arm. He was called once again for a similar act when the referee spotted him trying to control the ball with his arm in the penalty area. Sheva protested that it wasn’t deliberate, but he definitely stuck his arm out.

With only that early goal separating the two teams as the second half began, Buffon made a great save on a close-range header and then clanged his head against the post. Fortunately, the ground absorbed most of the impact and his melon stopped ringing shortly thereafter.

In the 55th I was surprised to see De Bleeckere keep his card in his pocket on two successive Ukrainian fouls. And then three minutes later the Italians dodged another bullet when two close-range efforts were stopped – the first by Buffon and the second by a defender’s leg. The counter-attack was swift for Italy and they would quickly score their second when Totti sent it into the middle for Toni to knock in with his head from four yards out.

But the Ukrainians wouldn’t give up so easily and almost scored again in the 62nd with a header of their own off a free kick. It was the crossbar that saved the Italians this time.

In the 67th, the striker Milevskiy came in studs-up on wild challenge near midfield that, had he connected, surely would’ve been a red card. But since he didn’t, he rightfully only earned a caution and a few words of admonishment from the referee.

Two minutes later it was game over as it was once again Zambrotta doing all the work before poking it across the face of the goal to an unmarked Luca Toni who easily tapped it in for Italy’s third from only three yards in front.

At that point, after a very busy couple of days, I began to doze in and out of the very non-controversial final quarter-hour of the match. I did note that near the end of the game Shevchenko was correctly called for a foul in the Italian penalty area as it was he who initiated the contact, not the Italian defender.

It wasn’t long after that that the final whistle ended this convincing victory for Italy on a night when Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere did exactly what needed to be done in order ensure that fair play reigned supreme on this day.

Until next time…

peace,
ac