Thoughts Before the Semi-finals of World Cup 2006

Finally, it's down to four teams to compete for World Cup 2006. Sadly, my beloved Brazil and Holland are already out of the competition.

Holland lost to Portugal in a brutal match. Portugal just deserved to win.

Brazil lost to France in the most unthinkable way - firing 8 shots with only 1 shot on goal. Zinedine Zidane was playing like a 24-year old man instead of 34-year old man. His performance against Brazil also validated him as the greatest player after Pele and Maradona.

I was sad to see England lose to Portugal on penalty kick. England just doesn't seem to be able to win in penalty kick.

Argentina lost to Geman because of the coach's conservative approach to the game. The coach should have put Messi on the field.

German(host), Italy, Portugal, France are in the final four of World Cup 2006. This looks a lot like European Championship 2000 where Holland(host), Italy, Portugal, and France were the final four. The semifinal match-up of this world cup is just like Euro 2000 where France vs. Portugal and Italy vs. the host country.

Let's see if history can repeat again like the quarter-finals where Brazil couldn't beat France and England couldn't bean Portugal.

If history repeats like Euro 2000, France will beat Portugal, and Italy will beat German(the host). And France will beat Italy in the final.

My prediction is that France and German will meet in the final, and France will win the world cup.

Tags: 2006worldcup