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Lux save sends Argentina to final
![]() Mexican defender Salcido fails to keep out Figueroa's late equalizer HANOVER, Germany (CNN) -- Argentina goalkeeper German Lux saved a shootout penalty from Mexico's Ricardo Osorio in Hanover, to enable his side to reach the Confederations Cup final against Brazil, following a 1-1 draw after extra time. Both teams were down to 10 men in the extra period and after Carlos Salcido's deflected shot gave Mexico a 104th minute lead, a prod from Luciano Figueroa trickled over the line for an equalizer 16 minutes later In the shootout the first 10 spot-kicks were converted but, after Osorio's miss, Esteban Cambiasso was on target with the decider. After the exciting first semifinal between Brazil and Germany the previous evening, there was not a lot for the 40,718 fans in Hanover to enthuse over in the first 90 minutes. A minute from the end of normal time Argentina's young striker Javier Saviola became the first player to be sent off in the tournament when he was shown a straight red card for kicking Gonzalo Pineda. Two minutes later, in stoppage time, Mexico captain Rafael Marquez followed him to the dressing room after picking up his second yellow card for a foul tackle. In the 14th minute of extra time the Mexicans went ahead when Salcido forced his way past Javier Zanetti and Gabriel Heinze on the left and fired in a cross shot, which was deflected past Lux by Fabricio Coliccini. The Argentinians threw off their lethargy and suddenly began to attack with enterprise. Figueroa, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-2 win over Australia, missed a great chance in front of an open goal but atoned in the 110th minute. In a tremendous goalmouth scramble he swiveled and sent the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez and it eluded Salcido's desperate efforts to clear. In the shootout neither goalkeeper got near any of the first 10 kicks but Lux went the right way and easily blocked Osorio's weak effort. Cambiasso then sent Sanchez the wrong way and gleefully steered his matchwinning kick into the opposite corner. There were few exciting moments during the opening period but Mexico's Brazilian-born midfielder Zinha rattled a post after beating Lux all ends up from 18 meters and Argentina's Sorin had a lob cleared from just in front of an empty goal by Gonzalo Pineda.
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