Italy are the world champions.They beat France 5-3 in the final match of the 18th FIFA World Cup 2006 in the penalty shoot-out. The match was played at Berlin Olympic stadium on Sunday.
This is Italy's the 4th World Cup title.
Instead of enjoying another World Cup victory, a red penalty card sent French star Zinédine Zidane into retirement after 19 minutes of overtime. In the closing match of his career the veteran captain of France was sent off for getting too physical in a dispute with Italy's Marco Materazzi by turning and butting the defender in the chest.
The match was a real cliffhanger and remained tied 1-1 after extra time. This is the second time a World Cup final match was decided on penalty kicks. The first time,in an interesting coincidence had Italy on the losing end when they were beat by Brazil in 1994.
The key moment in the shoot-out came when David Trezeguet missed France's second kick, the ball crashing down off the bar and on to the line and out.
With successful kicks from Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi already in the bank, Italy finished with successful kicks from Daniele de Rossi, Alessandro del Piero, and finally, Fabio Grosso.
It ain't baseball...but well done, Raggazzi!
My, my Nazar...where do you live anyway?
ReplyDeleteWe could see the World Cup here, for sure.
I like soccer (it was one of my letters in high school..played fullback)but I can understand why many of my fellow Americans find this a bit of a snoozefest.
When our athletes get steamed, they resort to things like throwing a baseball at somebody's head at 90+ MPH, full on onfield brawls, sticking in hockey or clipping and what goes by the generic term `unnecessary roughness' in American Football..IF the ref sees it.
A mere headbutt seems just a leetle bit uh...European.(LOL)