Italy beat France in penalties to win World Cup

A month of soccer of the highest international class drew to a close on Sunday evening with Italy winning the 2006 World Cup here in Germany. They needed a penalty shoot-out to beat their European rivals France in the final, played in front of a capacity crowd of 69,000 spectators at Berlin’s Olympic
Stadium.

Fabio Grosso scored Italy’s fifth penalty to give la squadra
azzura soccer’s biggest prize for the first time since 1982.

Neither goalkeeper managed to stop a single penalty in this particular shoot-out, but it all came a cropper for les bleus when French striker David Trezeguet, who plays for Italian side Juventus, fired his spot kick on to the bar.

After it was all over, French coach Raymond Domenech was clearly disappointed.

“We didn’t lose,” he said. “It’s never a defeat when you go to penalties, it means you’ve played to a tie. We didn’t perform as well in the shoot-out as we could have, but this can happen at the World Cup.”

The penalty shoot-out came after the two teams had finished level at 1-1 after extra time in what was a dramatic encounter.

One of the central figures was a French star who was playing in his last game. The French captain, Zinedine Zidane gave France an early lead, in the 7th minute of play, by scoring from the penalty spot. The nonchalant chip, that hit the bar and bounced behind the goal line, put Zidane in the record books. It made him the fourth player to score three goals in World Cup final matches. He of course had headed two goals in France’s triumphant 1998 final.

The penalty call, that led to it, though, was controversial. Florent Malouda had driven into the box and went down after a challenge from Marco Materazzi.

The replays, though, showed that there had been very little contact. Italy equalised after 19 minutes when Materazzi rose magnificently above Patrick Vieira to head home an Andrea Pirlo corner from the right.

Following the match, the Italian coach, Marcelo Lippi, alluded to why Italy didn’t let their heads go down after going down by a goal.

“I’d like to thank all of these fantastic players,” he said. “They’ve all got incredible character, and they play every game with a lot of heart.”

Despite a number of chances, neither team was able to score through the remaining 71 minutes of regular time and half an hour of extra time.

After the teams went to extra time, France seemed more likely to decide it. At least until 10 minutes from the end that is.

That’s when Zidane blew a fuse, and in his best impression of a ram, he felled Italian defender Marco Materazzi
with a head butt to the chest. The referee and the linesman seemed to miss the incident. But it appears that the 4th official saw it on the video replay. The news was relayed to Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo. He ended the French captain's career ten minutes prematurely with a deserved red card.

CHAMPIONS OF THE HEARTS

The celebration of soccer in Germany has come to a conclusion in Stuttgart where coach Jürgen Klinsmann’s squad outshined Portugal 3-1 in the match for third place. This game was the culmination of a fantastic World Cup for Germany.

After a quiet first-half that saw the Portuguese with the upper hand in ball possession and a golden chance by striker Pauleta that was foiled by goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, the match took off in the second 45 minutes.

Schweinsteiger burns the Portuguese net

It was midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger who got the fireworks started, firing home his first goal in this tournament in the 56th minute. Portuguese keeper Ricardo looked somewhat awkward on the 18 meter rocket, but that is not meant to take any credit from Schweinsteiger who was the man of the match.

Schweinsteiger was directly responsible for the second goal just five minutes later when his direct kick sailed into the Portuguese penalty area, where defender deflected it into his own net, putting Germany up 2-0 after an hour of play.

At that moment, the magic that has spread throughout the country the past four weeks could be felt by every one of the 51,000 fans present in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium in Stuttgart.

But the 2-nil lead wasn’t enough for coach Jürgen Klinsmann whose future is still up in the air. In the 78th minute, Schweinsteiger, in an effort mirroring his first goal, notched his second goal of the tournament, and this time goalie Ricardo, who played a spectacular tournament for Portugal, truly had no chance.

Finally, just two minutes from time, substitute Luis Figo, playing his last game for Portugal, crossed perfectly from the right for Nuno Gomes to head home from close range.

Uncertainty and certainty on the national squad

After the game, the German team was feted with fireworks in Stuttgart. Yet, there is still a large question mark hanging in the air – will Jürgen Klinsmann remain in the post as coach of the national team. He avoided answering the question directly after the match, asking for time to savor the moment.

One man who did announce his resignation from the national team was the goalkeeper in the match, Oliver Kahn. Having played 86 games for Germany, most of those with the number 1 on his back, King Kahn is leaving the scene, with a third place victory and the number 12 on his jersey. Yet, Germany rediscovered the thrill of soccer at the World Cup, something FIFA president Sepp Blatter underscored after this game.

"The only game where they didn’t play attacking soccer, they walked off the field losers. All the other ones they one," Blatter said on German public television ZDF.

A fact that most soccer supporters around Germany would not have believed on June 8 before Jürgen Klinsmann’s squad set out on their run, winning six of seven games at the 2006 World Cup.