The final eight teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany will be whittled to four by the weekend as the quarterfinal round gets underway Friday with a pair of highly-anticipated matches. The hosts kick things off when they take on Argentina in Berlin (10:55 a.m. ET; ESPN). Italy will face Ukraine in the day's second game (2:55 p.m. ET; ESPN2).
The Germany vs. Argentina match is an intriguing one, bringing together the two sides that have arguably looked best in the tournament thus far. The Europeans coasted through Group A play with wins against Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador before easily disposing of Sweden in the Round of 16. Argentina comfortably emerged as the top team from Group C with two wins and a draw before using an overtime goal to knock off a tough Mexican side in the first knockout round.
The two nations are not strangers at soccer's biggest tournament, having met twice before in the World Cup - in the final in both 1986 and 1990. Argentina prevailed in the first in Mexico to claim its second title, while Germany claimed its third in Italy four years later to get revenge.
Led by Chelsea-bound midfielder Michael Ballack, the Germans will have huge crowd support in the stadium that will host the championship match on July 9. Miroslav Klose currently leads the 2006 World Cup with four goals, but he has also helped set up others, including strikes by Lucas Podolski against Sweden.
Argentina's man in the middle is Juan Riquelme. The Villareal man hopes to extend his team's stay in Germany with a win. They'll have to get past German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to do so. Riquelme has been stymied by Lehmann before when the Arsenal shot-stopper saved his penalty kick in the UEFA Champions League semifinals on April 25. The Argentines have plenty of options, though, not least of all being Hernan Crespo, who already has three goals in the tournament.
Three-time World Cup winners Italy, which emerged from the same group that the U.S. was bounced out of in the opening round, face Cup debutants Ukraine in Hamburg. Italy finished atop Group E to advance and used a last-second penalty kick to beat a surprising Australia in the Round of 16. Ukraine bounced back from a 4-0 thrashing by Spain in its first match to finish second in Group H. It then used penalty kicks to defeat Switzerland in the Round of 16 after an unimpressive performance over 120 minutes.
Attack options for Italy are many, including gigantic striker Luca Toni and midfielder Francesco Totti. The latter scored the penalty kick that put the Italians through to the final eight. For Ukraine, the main danger man is another Chelsea-bound player, Andriy Shevchenko. He has two goals so far in tournament play, but missed Ukraine's first penalty kick in the shootout win against the Swiss.
Friday's victors will advance to the final four and will meet in the first semifinal July 4 in Dortmund. The two other quarterfinal matches will be played Saturday as England takes on Portugal and Brazil faces France. The winners of those games will meet July 5 in Munich in the other semifinal, with the final coming four days later.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
