Brazil Sinks German Dreams of Final
June 25, 2005
The Inter Milan striker set up all of Brazil's goals, winning a penalty for Ronaldinho to convert, and scoring two himself after Germany had twice equalized through Lukas Podolski and a Michael Ballack penalty.
It was the third time Brazil have reached the final and they will hope to repeat their win from 1997 in the Frankfurt final in four days time. Argentina or Mexico will be their opponents with the two facing off on Sunday in the other semi-final.
For Germany it was a disappointing end to the tournament but manager Jürgen Klinsmann could be proud of their progress with this only their second defeat in his 12 months in charge. The hosts now have a consolation third-place play-off in Leipzig against the runner-up from the other semi-final.
With the match just seven minutes old, an overenthusiastic male fan ran on to the pitch waving a black and white flag and tried to hand it over to the surprised Brazilian midfielder Emerson. A host of stewards escorted the youth off the pitch but football's governing body FIFA, will be concerned as this is not the first pitch invasion in this tournament.
Both sides looked dangerous from set-pieces and it was the source of the first goal. In the 21st minute Adriano let rip with a ferocious 35 meter free-kick with his trusty left foot and with a slight deflection off the wall German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was left with no chance.
It was the 250th goal in the Confederations Cup and the 251st came just 60 seconds later. Sebastian Deisler swung in a corner and Podolski headed past Dida with the Brazil backline all at sea.
Just before the interval both teams ploughed forward and a hectic period saw two controversial penalties awarded.
Robert Huth tussled with Adriano and the referee strangely pointed to the penalty spot with Ronaldinho converting with aplomb in the 43rd minute. Seconds before the interval Germany were awarded another controversial spot-kick with no obvious foul in the area other than Huth tugging at Roque Junior's shirt.
Apparently Emerson stepped on Ballack's foot and he went down somewhat theatrically. Ballack did not care about the controversial nature of the call and smashed his penalty past Dida for his third goal of the tournament - remarkably all of them spot-kicks.
Chilean referee Carlos Chandia and his assistants were having a game to forget and enraged both sets of players in the second half with peculiar decisions.
In the 58th minute, Kuranyi, born in Rio but a nationalized German, had a great chance when released but a poor first touch let him down.
Yet Brazil looked dangerous on the counter attack and in the 76th minute Adriano raced through and got the better of Huth, before hammering a left footed shot past Lehmann.
It meant Germany had gone behind three times in the match and there was no coming back again as Brazil held on.