3rd and 4th placing

Congratulation to Germany for winning 3rd place. The German team that was fielded 2 hours ago must be applauded for their victory over the Portugese. They played fair and were great. Personally, i do not like the German team due to a few play-acting players, mainly Ballack. Kehl did something dirty earlier on too, much to the dislike of the portugese players. As Ballack had to stay on the bench with an injury, this German team won with pride and honour. What we can't deny that 3-1 isn't a fair scoreline for Portugese. Ricardo did superbly well and was unlucky as there were 2 goals out of nowhere and of course a dreadful own-goal by Petit. How unprofessional was that. There are some very big problems with the Portugese. They have weak defence and weak attack, but they got so far, mainly due to their talented midfield. Yes, i am talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco. They are the only professional players that i can spot in Portugese and they might very well be among the best in this World Cup. Are you hinting that i missed out someone in Portugal? Of course i know. Alexandre Ricardo. What more can i say? Without him, Portugal is nothing. Just like Germany is without Oliver Khan in the past. Ricardo is argueably the best goalkeeper in this World Cup. Despite having to deal with such a weak defence at his disposal, he managed to carry Portugal single-handedly into the Semi-Finals. If only Portugal had a few better strikers other than the inefficient Pauleta, Portugal could very well lift the World Cup and create history. Pauleta was nowhere near of a threat and was more of a nuisance to Portugal, as passes to him were always wasted. Gomez required not much time to show Pauleta how a chance should be pursued. A diving header couldn't prove more. Pauleta had shown no effort close to what Gomez put in in less than 25 minutes on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, had been trying very hard to get Portugal to qualify. Obviously, it takes at least 2-3 players to break any defence that is World Cup-worthy. C.Ronaldo was still able to take on keepers himself and posed a great threat. On several occasions, C.Ronaldo should have got a goal and might very well lead to a hat-trick. It was the GREAT OLIVER KHAN that threatened to steal the show from him. With countless great saves and stoppages, Kahn is no doubt the best goalkeeper in the world. Kahn has great concentration and was flawless till the end. Gomez's goal was inevitable, as Figo floated in a Winning-Eleven cross and Gomez was already in position to score the consolation goal. Now the only match left is Italy vs France. I sure hope France will rise up to the occasion and seeing Zinedine Zidane hugging the trophy in his arms is the least i expect. It will be a big NO-NO for me to see the MATCH-FIXING Italy tainting the holy grail in soccer world with their filthy hands.