Casa de Colin

Italy 1-1 France
(Italy wins penalty shootout 5-3)
(Marco Materazzi 19; Zinedine Zidane 7pen)

Man of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy)
Yellow Cards: Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Willy Sagnol, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda (France)
Red Cards: Zinedine Zidane (France)
Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
Attendance: 69,000 (Berlin)

0-1: Malouda gets a really good run into the box and at first glance, it looks as if Materazzi clipped him to draw a penalty. On second, third and fourth glance at the instant replays, there’s really not much of a touch if there even was one, and one might accuse Malouda of embellishing the contact a tad. Zidane then takes a horrible penalty kick that beats Buffon, but goes off the crossbar and just bounces inside the line and back out. It counts.
1-1: Italy were dangerous on corner kicks all day, and this was no exception. Pirlo steps up to take the corner and swings it into the area, and Materazzi makes good for his supposed violation earlier by reaching above Vieira to head the ball right past Barthez and into the back of the net. Barthez had no chance; that was a powerful header.

Penalty shootout (Italy kicks first):

1-0: Pirlo goes straight with his first shot; it’s not particularly strong but Barthez dives to his left.
1-1: Buffon ends up going left as Wiltord knocks the ball into the right side.
2-1: Materazzi hits a strong shot deep to the right side; Barthez guesses right but the shot’s too fast.
2-1: Buffon makes a mistake by going right as Trezeguet was going high and to his left, but the crossbar foils the attempt.
3-1: Barthez guesses right again as De Rossi (back from his suspension for that vicious elbow in the Italy/USA game) goes high and left, but he just can’t get a hand on the ball. Great strike.
3-2: Abidal hits it slightly to the left as Buffon has no idea what to do and is basically frozen in the middle.
4-2: Del Piero goes high and to the left; Barthez thinks that the shot is going low and right. That’s part of what makes penalties a lottery.
4-3: Sagnol doesn’t show any visible nerves, as he keeps France alive with a low shot slightly to the right side; Buffon goes left.
5-3: Grosso writes his name into the record books as the player who scored the penalty needed to give Italy the World Cup. Barthez needed to save the shot, but can’t guess right on the shot; Grosso stutter-steps and puts the ball into the right of the net to end the tournament.

Thoughts: I don’t know what else can be said about this one that hasn’t already been said on several blogs, news sites and message board postings, but I’ll give it my best shot. You could tell at the start that this was going to be an enthralling game to watch; France got their opening penalty on a rather dubious challenge, and Italy struck back quickly off that fantastic set-piece by Pirlo and Materazzi. Italy played well during the first half, and France looked a little shell-shocked that their early lead vanished so quickly; however, they managed to hold things together well despite some fantastic corners by Italy that were either cleared by the French defense or went off the crossbar. Italy could have easily had the lead, but when the second half rolled around it was France who looked to have the advantage. They didn’t give Italy too many whiffs of the ball, and looked threatening at points. Still, neither team had done enough to win the match at the end of regulation so it was only fitting that the game went into extra time. France looked dangerous early on with Zidane nearly scoring the winner and Buffon coming up big when it mattered the most. And then… it happened. The headbutt on Materazzi and the obvious ejection by Zidane.

Now, we don’t know what happened there. Obviously Materazzi called Zidane something but we won’t know what he said for sure until Zidane decides to come forward. Rumors have flown saying that Materazzi either insulted Zidane’s mother or called him a “dirty terorrist”. Today, Materazzi said that he was ignorant and doesn’t even know what “terrorist” means, which is rather hard to stomach. The important thing is that Materazzi managed to get under Zidane’s skin and the end result was taking one of the most influencial French players - and the captain to boot - out of the match. It’s really too bad that none of the officials heard what Materazzi said, because given FIFA’s tough stance on racism, you would have to think that a harsh comment could easily lead to a suspension. And this isn’t Materazzi’s only brush with controversy; remember the Champions League match between Inter Milan and Villarreal this year where he cold-cocked Sorin with that elbow? Or when he got suspended for two months in Serie A for punching a Siena player? He’s a pretty dirty individual and while it might have been nice to see Zidane deck him if France were up by, say, two goals, the game was still in the balance. Zidane will surely regret tarnishing his career with that headbutt, but at least he can take solace in the fact that it didn’t cost France the game in extra time. If I’m Materazzi, I’d watch my behavior this season and try not to tick off the wrong player, because if he keeps going down this road he’ll get what’s coming to him sooner or later.

Back to the game. France continued to press in extra time despite being a man down and having some fresh legs out there, but with no Henry (subbed), no Ribery (who looked great before being subbed) and no Vieira (injured), they couldn’t come up with that one real chance. So it came down to the worst way to decide a World Cup final; penalties. Buffon didn’t look great and Barthez seemed to be the sharper of the two keepers, but neither of them could make any stops. Trezeguet was the only shooter who messed up, and as a result the World Cup will reside in Italy for the next four years.

France were the better team overall on the night. They controlled the second half and much of extra time, and came close on a few occasions but couldn’t get that one goal they needed to clinch the title for a second time in eight years. Henry was a little disappointing but unless he was injured, I wouldn’t have subbed him because he’s the type of player who could come up with that last-minute goal to give you the game. Ribery being subbed was a surprise because he was great in his role as a little pest frustrating the Italian defense. It’s good to have a fresh Trezeguet in there for veteran presence, but he couldn’t do much. The red card could have done France in but they fought up to the penalty lottery, where they couldn’t sink all of their kicks or save any of Italy’s. It’s a cruel way to go out, but they should be remembered more for their strong performance in this match instead of Zidane’s headbutt. History, of course, will place a lot more emphasis on the latter. Credit to Domenech and his boys, who defied everyone’s expectations and are back to being a strong force in European and world football.

It’s funny to look back at Italy’s road to the World Cup; a late, controversial win against Australia, a romp over Ukraine, a last-second win over Germany and a shootout victory over France. Aside from the Ukraine result, none of those were convincing victories on paper; however, Italy never gave up at any point in the tournament. Aside from the penalty by Zidane today and the own goal against the United States, Buffon did not give up a single goal in open play the entire tournament. The defense was solid, they had weapons on attack and they didn’t resort to ultra-defensive football; aside from the Ukraine game, they had no reason to do so because they needed goals. They improved with each game, and even though France had the edge today Italy kept their composure and never looked like they were in danger of throwing the game away. Germany might have played more attractive football, but Italy were the ones that made it all the way to the final and took home the World Cup trophy. Lippi was fantastic as head coach; he was spot-on with his tactics and rarely made mistakes. You can say what you want about certain players on the team or certain incidents, but when push came to shove, Italy came out on top. Congratulations to the Italian national team and all of its fans, who, given the problems the team’s had over the past while and the match-fixing scandal in Serie A, needed something to cheer about.