Germany And Italy Through
Both Germany and Italy progressed to the semi-finals of the World Cup where they will now face each other.
Italy breezed past Ukraine 3-0 with goals from Gianluca Zambrotta, and two from Luca Toni while Germany beat Argentina in a tight and cautious match 4-2 on penalties after the game had finished 1-1 in normal time.
Argentina led when Roberto Ayala took advantage of slack marking to head in a Juan Riquelme corner after 49 minutes.
But with 10 minutes left Michael Ballack’s cross was flicked on by Tim Borowski and Miroslav Klose headed home his fifth of the tournament.
Germany scored from their first four kicks but Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso both missed to send the hosts through.
The match ended on a sour note when players and officials from both sides clashed on the pitch, with punches thrown between the rival camps
Germany’s Torsten Frings said of the incident in: “They are bad losers. They lost their minds.”
Argentina’s unused substitute Leandro Cufre was sent off for kicking Germany’s Per Mertesacker. The German defender said: “They are no choirboys.”
Mertesacker added: “One of their players attacked me even though I did not do anything. I have three or four red marks on my thigh and then he kicked me again in the groin.”
Germany’s Frings said they tried to calm the Argentina players down, but added: “It just shows they are bad sports and are badly behaved. I hope their players get suspended.”
Argentina coach Jose Pekermen, who was criticised for taking off playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme when they were 1-0 up with 18 minutes to go, resigned after the quarter-final defeat.
