DORTMUND, July 4 - Italy coach Marcello Lippi hailed midfield
superiority and a fear of the penalty shootout as the keys to his team's
stunning 2-0 win over hosts Germany in the semi-final of the World Cup on
Tuesday.
Late goals in extra time from defender Fabio Grosso and striker
Alessandro Del Piero, a late substitute, put paid to Germany's hopes of a place
in the final on Sunday.
What did it, said a delighted Lippi, was a combination of packing the
midfield and leaving Francesco Totti behind a lone striker and then taking two
midfielders off early in extra time to finish with four forwards.
Italy not only had the better of the midfield, with 57 percent possession and
the Germans forced to man mark Totti with a sparkling Andrea Pirlo, named FIFA's
man of the match, free to shine as the playmaker par excellence.
They also had the firepower that made the difference when it mattered in a
game of few real scoring opportunities, with Alberto Gilardino and Gianluca
Zambrotta both hitting the woodwork in the first few minutes of extra time.
"It would have been an injustice not to win or to go on to penalties and a
game of Russian roulette," Lippi said.
Hailing his side as clearly superior, both technically and in terms of nerve
in front of a roaring crowd of home fans in the 65,000-seat Westfalenstadion, he
added:
"We were the better side and I don't think any German could say otherwise."
Italy have a sad history of flunking shootouts at the World Cup, bowing out
of three of the previous four tournaments on penalties including in the 1994
final when they lost to Brazil.
Germany, by contrast, have won all four of their penalty shootouts, including
against Argentina in the quarter-finals.
"It's an immense joy and you can see it was destiny. If we hadn't scored, we
would probably have lost on penalties," Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon told
reporters.
