HANOVER, Germany, June 26 (Reuters) - Javier Zanetti celebrated his 100th cap by inspiring Argentina to reach the Confederations Cup final with a 6-5 win over Mexico on penalties on Sunday -- a victory he said was written in the stars.
"When the penalties were about to start I did look up and think that this was a match we couldn't lose, on the night of my 100th cap," said Zanetti, who became only the second Argentine to reach the milestone after Diego Simeone, who played 106 times for his country. "We deserved to win." Argentina will go on to face arch-rivals Brazil in the final in Frankfurt on Wednesday. They will have every reason to be confident after beating Brazil 3-1 on June 8 to clinch their place in next year's World Cup finals back in Germany. "The match against Brazil will be one to enjoy for three reasons," Zanetti said. "Firstly, because we're in the final and secondly because it's in Germany, where the next World Cup is going to be played. "We should also savour it because it's against Brazil. I'm sure it will be a beautiful game, and I hope the result turns out the same as this one." Zanetti was a forceful presence in defence against Mexico in a bruising encounter. On a night of little good football, his display was enough to win him the man of the match award. "We had to suffer to win this," the 31-year-old said ."We knew Mexico would be very strong but we've made it through. FAMILY DEDICATION "I want to dedicate the victory and the award to my daughter, who was born recently, and to my wife. "I'm very proud to have played 100 games. I've represented Argentina in every corner of the world." Zanetti made his Argentina debut in November 1994 in a 3-0 win over Chile in a friendly international, Daniel Passarella's first match in charge of the national team. The right back, who joined Inter Milan from the Buenos Aires side Banfield the following year and has spent the last 10 years at the Italian club, is a veteran of two World Cups. He helped Passarella's Argentina reach the quarter-finals in France in 1998 and was part of the debacle in Japan in 2002 when Marcelo Bielsa's side, who started the tournament as favourites, failed to progress from the group stage. Zanetti, who scored a superb goal when Inter beat Lazio 3-0 in the UEFA Cup final in Paris in 1998, is still looking for his first major trophy with Argentina. He came closest when Argentina lost to Brazil on penalties in last year's Copa America final in Lima. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] HAPUS BAGIAN EMAIL YG TIDAK PERLU SEBELUM ME-REPLY. ========================================================== Milis Tabloid BOLA Untuk KELUAR DARI MILIS INI. Kirim Mail kosong (tanpa subject) ke alamat [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========================================================== Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bolaml/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
