Milan pair Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso might not be too dissimilar to pairing Michael Carrick with Owen Hargreaves. Even Martin Jol probably doesn't favour such an approach going by the few times Carrick and Edgar Davids played together in the centre of midfield last season.
However with the players Eriksson was always more likely to choose, maybe following the more positive German philosophy may have gone down well, but he did neither that or get a side playing like the Italians and that is why England went out the tournament when they did. So much for his vast European experience.
"We've always said that the philosophy we are developing, a high-pace, very aggressive attacking style, will sometimes have setbacks. Against Italy (in March) we were 2-0 down after seven minutes, but we were very calm afterwards. I went out and said: 'We got a lesson.' We knew where we were as a team. We have had some ups and downs but we knew we could create a totally different atmosphere, and focus on developing a team that could play at the pace (of the Champions League) and tactically behave the way it should," said Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann. (The Guardian)
Klinsmann wouldn't make the mistake of playing a lone striker, and Italy will know they have to score one more than their opponents in order to reach the Final. Of the four sides remaining Germany and Italy have the best goal difference from all their games in the tournament. So far just one goal separates the two teams.
Brian Glanville wrote in The Sunday Times: ‘There is no doubt Germany are a transformed team, their defence now tight where it was so porous; their attack not merely making chances but emphatically taking them.'
Werder Bremen striker Miroslav Klose is way out in front in the race for the golden boot with five goals so far. New Bayern Munich signing Lukas Podolski has chipped in with three – after getting off the mark in the final group game, his goals were enough to see off Sweden in the second round.
Back in the blue camp, Luca Toni who was on the bench as the Azzurri confirmed themselves as group winners with a victory which consigned the Czech Republic to an early return home, will be hoping to add to the brace he scored in the last round against Ukraine.
"Personally, the coach always had confidence in me, even when I wasn't scoring. I was playing for the team and Lippi told me ‘you've always got goals and they will come'. He was constantly reassuring me. I never lost faith although I certainly felt some of those around me had lost faith," said Toni (The Sun)
Afterwards Italy coach Marcello Lippi told the official website: "It was unthinkable that a player who had scored 80 goals in three years had lost confidence."
But goals can come from other sources if need be, as they have shown along the route to Dortmund. None was more important than Francesco Totti's very last minute penalty strike to beat the Australians with ten men in the second round.
Rick Broadbent in The Times wrote: ‘Time is running out, given that Totti turns 30 in September and says he is 80 per cent sure that he will retire from international football after this tournament.'
And Douglas Alexander in The Sunday Times wrote: ‘The Italians feel that the stereotype of them as the high priests of negativity fails to take account of creative talents such as Pirlo and Totti.'
But German newspaper Der Spiegel described the Italians as "parasites, big mummy's boys, slimy and always tired", although an apology was issued afterwards.
However, Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro said: "I have been hugely offended by how the German papers have described the Italian players. The stereotypes they dragged out about us are part of an old culture." (Sunday Mirror)
And most probably with bitter revenge in mind, Italian newspaper La Repubblica scoured video footage of the aftermath of Germany's quarter-final victory against Argentina and demanded action be taken by FIFA against Frings for landing a punch on Julio Cruz, after the defeated side had started a ruck with the triumphant Germans.
"No one on our side moved a finger for this (Frings' suspension) to happen. We were incredulous when we heard about it," added Lippi. (The Guardian)