World Cup final

Italy strike gold as Zidane sees red

Italy 1 - 1 France (Italy won 5-3 on pens)
Materazzi, 19; Zidane, 7 (pen)

Kevin McCarra in Berlin
Monday July 10, 2006
The Guardian


Italy are world champions, with a flawless set of penalties in the shoot-out securing football's ultimate prize. They had never been undisputed masters in any other aspect of the final, yet the honour is theirs for the fourth time in their history. The veterans of France, tapping unimaginable reserves of stamina, had been more potent from the opening of the second-half onwards but are now submerged in the miseries of their leader.

A red card rather than a greetings card ushered Zinédine Zidane into retirement 19 minutes into extra-time. The captain was sent off for reacting to a dispute with Marco Materazzi by turning and butting the scorer of Italy's goal in the chest. He had surely been provoked - there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him "a terrorist" - but Zidane will be right to curse his stupid reaction.
This World Cup had come to mean too much to him and the dismissal followed three bookings in his six matches here. The 34-year-old was as overwrought as any testosterone-maddened youngster but could still have contrived a triumph. Five minutes before his expulsion he was unmarked to connect with Willy Sagnol's cross 12 yards out but his header was tipped over by Gianluigi Buffon.

Goalkeepers had little to do, even if the final was diverting and often classy. Buffon might as well have been a bystander in the shoot-out, since a Juventus team-mate David Trezeguet bashed his penalty against the bar. The left-back Fabio Grosso secured victory for Italy from the spot.

One of the worst aspects of the sudden-death system is that it leaves the losers tormenting themselves over each detail that might have been different. Thierry Henry, affected for a while by a first-minute head knock, had a splendid, free-running spell after the interval and compelled Buffon to an important stop. The coach Raymond Domenech, though, was eventually to substitute him.

By then Henry was exhausted but his removal meant that neither he nor Zidane could face Buffon in the shoot-out. The veteran, in a rather erratic fashion, had illustrated at the very start of the night that he could beat the goalkeeper. After six minutes Henry headed into the area from the left and Florent Malouda went down as Materazzi closed on him.

There had seemed to be a slight contact, enough to meet the referee Horacio Elizondo's criteria. Plotting the penalty, Zidane almost baffled himself in the battle of wits. He had scored the single goal of the semi-final against Portugal from the spot by hitting a sharp, low finish to the goalkeeper's right. Here, confronted by his former Juventus colleague Buffon, he opted for the opposite.

The ball was floated the other way, where it caught the underside of the crossbar and dropped over the line. There was a suspicion then that luck would rally to Zidane's aid with the total fulfilment of his life as a footballer. Minds turned to the symmetry of his impact, considering that he had delivered an opener, too, when France took the 1998 World Cup in Paris.

The harmonies of history were, in practice, to take another shape entirely. Italy had never before conquered on penalties in the World Cup finals and were even vanquished by France in that fashion at the quarter-final stage eight years ago. A nation famed for its icy efficiency was bound to put that right sooner or later.

France had made Italy turn into a former incarnation of themselves. The manager Marcello Lippi has been encouraging a more expressive style but that had been of sporadic worth. Not even the loss of Patrick Vieira in the second half, to a hamstring injury, halted the rising assertiveness of Domenech's players.

Lippi would be driven to bolster his midfield with the introduction of Daniele de Rossi, who came fresh from a four-game ban for elbowing the United States forward Brian McBride in the face. The manager was reacting to circumstances then, but had evidently conducted a measured examination of the France back four beforehand.

Materazzi equalised by overpowering Vieira to meet an Andrea Pirlo corner on 19 minutes and smash a header into the net. France's discomfort at set pieces was never eased and, when Francesco Totti released Luca Toni for an effort that was blocked, Domenech's team faced another corner. Pirlo flighted it once more and, on this occasion, it was Toni who won the header but hit the crossbar.

The long-serving France players did understand how to regroup and not long after the interval the Italy right-back Gianluca Zambrotta ran a serious risk with his challenge on Malouda. The argument for a penalty was stronger than it had been at the opening of the evening, yet the referee was reluctant to grant a second for an offence on the same player.

The changes of personnel made by a perturbed Lippi were nearly followed by a breakthrough. The dead-ball expert Pirlo piloted one more free-kick and Toni can have been off-side by only a fraction as he headed the ball past Barthez.

There will be no regrets for any Italian in the return to supremacy of their national team, following the ignominy of early exits at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, but this was not exactly the culmination that had been anticipated. Lippi's team, overall, has been the best in this tournament but recognition of that is muddled by admiration for the pluck that France showed and sadness that Zidane should have left the stage in such a dismal manner.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/matchreport/0,,1816890,00.html