Yellow peril for six semi-finalists

BERLIN: Six players in Tuesday's World Cup semi-final between hosts Germany and Italy face a ban for the final if they are given a yellow card in Dortmund.

Germany's Arne Friedrich, Lukas Podolski and David Odonkor and Italians Fabio Grosso, Gennaro Gattuso and Gianluca Zambrotta picked up knockout round bookings and would be automatically suspended if they are cautioned again.

In 2002 in Japan, Germany captain Michael Ballack missed the final after collecting a second yellow card in the semi-final victory over South Korea. Germany went on to lose the final 2-0 without him against Brazil.