The Audi Cup.

The Audi Cup. This year's edition will be the 2nd outing for this tournament which is taking place in Munich, Germany and has a lot of promise. The 4 teams that are competing for the title are Bayern Munich, the hosts; AC Milan of Italy; Internacional Porto Alegere of Brazil; and last but least, Spanish, European, and World-Champions Barcelona. Well the Final of this warm-up tournament has been set-up, and if the Semi's are any indicator, it is going to be fantastic. Today the Semi-finals took place and the team on top of the World, Barcelona, defeated Brazil's Internacional Porto Alegere 4-2 on penalties to book their place in the Final. That was after the semi-final was poised 2-2 at the end of regulation time. Needless to say, it was quite a game with the South Americans refusing to bow to the Spanish giants. Thiago Alcantara opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a sweet shot that Internacional's goalie could not stop. The Brazilians were not able to respond until the 2nd half, but better late than never right? Inter's defender Nei was the one to convert, in the 55th minute. So, 1-1. Barcelona didn't like that and Inter wanted another. Barca were able to strike themselves into the lead again though, this time through Jonathan dos Santos in the 62nd minute. Internacional were set back by this, but they pushed on and, 6 minutes before time they equalized thanks to Leandro Damiao. So the next big thing was penalties. David Villa, dos Santos, Carlos Carmona Bonet, and Armando Lozano each converted for Barcelona with only Jeffren Suarez unsuccessful. On the other side of the coin, Inter's Kléber de Carvalho Corrêa finished his, but Damiao and Jose Mario de Bona were unable to convert. Joao Paulo Mior's goal was not enough either as that only tallied up to 2 against Barcelona's 4. So, the Brazilians will compete in the 3rd place match while Barcelona move on to the Final. And who will they meet? In Bayern v.s. AC Milan, one got the feeling that this was the game of dueling giants. True, both haven't hit the same marks they are used to, but they are each respected domestically and internationally. So to the game! The Italians drew first blood very early on, through Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 4th minute! Bayern weren't to be intimidated though, equalizing in the 34th minute thanks to a brilliant Toni Kroos goal. 1-1 into half-time and 1-1 at the end of the 2nd half. After such a great start, things started slowing down despite the fact that both sides created chances. So just like the Barca v.s. Inter match, it was to be decided by penalties. Bayern were perfect here while Milan were... less than perfect. David Alaba scored for Bayern, Robinho did the same for Milan. Mario Gomez slotted home for the Germans while the Italians were not let down by Massimo Oddo. Thomas Muller scored  a 3rd for Bayern while Thiago Silva did the same for AC. Toni Kroos made it 4 for the hosts while AC's Paloschi did not score. Bastian Schweinsteiger wrapped things up for Bayern when he scored the 5th. There was no longer any way that Milan could win it. The Germans couldn't have been happier. So then, we will see Bayern take on Barcelona tomorrow in the Final of the Audi Cup while Internacional and Milan play in the 3rd place match. Best of luck to all of the sides!