WATCH the next of our FIFA World Cup classic matches - Germany v Italy 2006 - this Sunday 7 June at 3:00pm (AEST) on SBS and streamed via The World Game website / app and SBS On Demand.
If a World Cup semi-final between two heavyweights isn't enough of a draw in itself, here are six more reasons to tune in:
1. Andrea Pirlo
Already shining for AC Milan at this point, Pirlo truly shot to prominence as one of the world's most elite midfielders in this tournament. He bested Germany captain Michael Ballack for control of this match, setting Italy's tempo and making them tick. It was he who finally unlocked Germany with a sensational, no-look pass, to assist Fabio Grosso's goal. Pirlo was man of the match here and in the final. In fact, he had the most man of the match awards at this World Cup, finishing with the bronze ball and in the all-star team. After the tournament, Real Madrid came for the silky maestro - so to make him stay at Milan, vice-president Adriano Galliani handed Pirlo a blank cheque and told him to write whatever he wanted.
2. Fabio Cannavaro
The Italy captain's performances in this World Cup earned him the nickname 'The Berlin Wall' and this match shows why. The beating heart of the tightest defence in World Cup history, Cannavaro was perfectly positioned, fast, strong and uncompromising while managing to stay fair and clean. He didn't receive a single yellow or red card in the tournament, and played every minute of every match. Italy's fearless leader hoisted the World Cup five days later and afterwards was bought by Real Madrid and became the only defender ever to win the Ballon d'Or.
3. The Miroslav Klose - Lukas Podolski partnership
The tournament's best strike partnership up against the best defence was an intriguing battle. Germany's highest and third-highest goalscorers in history were a devastating duo up front for Die Mannschaft. Klose won the tournament's Golden Boot while Podolski was the joint-second-highest scorer and won Best Young Player. Their different styles dovetailed nicely, and they scored eight goals between them in total (Klose five, Podolski three). Quicksilver Podolski really shone as Germany's biggest threat in this match, twice forcing Gianluigi Buffon into saves with thunderous strikes.
4. Fabio Grosso
The iconic moment of this match. Considered Italy's weakest point, left-back was one of the only positions they didn't have a household name, but attack-minded Grosso became an unlikely hero here. Not an all-time great talent but in red-hot form at the perfect time, Grosso was this tournament's Toto Schillaci - who shot to prominence for Italy at Italia '90 then quickly faded into obscurity afterwards. Grosso finally broke this game's intense, nerve-destroying deadlock in the 119th minute. He hit Pirlo's reverse pass first time, curling it beautifully past Jens Lehmann - his ecstatic celebration a throwback to Marco Tardelli's in 1982. This goal is still guaranteed to give Italians goosebumps. With this match-winning strike, the infamous incident against the Socceroos, and the last kick of the final's penalty shootout against France - Grosso was the focal point of three of the World Cup's most intense moments, somewhat stealing the show in 2006.
5. Gianluigi Buffon
Whenever an attack was good enough to breach Italy's defence, they had the world's best goalkeeper ready and waiting. His supernatural reflexes and superb positioning saved Italy multiple times in this match, as well as the tournament. He never conceded from open play the whole competition, and the only two goals scored against him were an own goal and a penalty. It was just his fingertips that kept out Bernd Schneider and Podolski in this semi-final. Buffon won the Yashin award for best goalkeeper of the tournament by a country mile, and later was runner-up (to Cannavaro) in the 2006 Ballon d'Or.
6. Marcello Lippi
Already one of Italian football's greats, this tournament was Lippi's magnum opus. His Italy bucked the defensive stereotype, scoring the most goals with the most goalscorers, and going undefeated. Amid the Calciopoli scandal, he and his squad hunkered down as he masterminded their winning formulas. Lippi tinkered with the team a lot, fielding 21 out of his 23 players (all but the two reserve goalkeepers), and there were 10 different goalscorers from the team's total 12 strikes. He drew particular praise for his midfield management - finding a way to combine the creative talents of Pirlo and Francesco Totti while offsetting them with the grit of Gennaro Gattuso and Simone Perrotta. In this semi-final all three of his substitutions brought on strikers (Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Alessandro Del Piero) as he went all-out for the win.
