The 2006 World Cup in Germany
A booksmusicfilmstv.com surreal take on the footie fest in Germany
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Italy won their fourth World Cup, in a dramatic conclusion to the 18th World Cup finals, in Berlin's Olympiastadion.

This was a game which had a little bit of everything. Not the greatest World Cup final ever played, but memorable - for good and bad reasons. There was another penalty shootout, Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi, and Zidane's penalty of sublime coolness in the first half.

There was drama in the opening seconds of the match, when, after a collision with Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, Thierry Henry seemed set to leave the field with a head injury. Eventually he came back on, and soon after his header set up Florent Malouda, whose run was adjudged to have been illegally impeded by Materazzi in the penalty area. It has to be said it looked a debatable penalty on replay. Zidane took the resultant spot-kick with the calmness of a man enjoying a park kickabout. He strolled up and chipped his penalty, which only just went over the line off the underside of the crossbar, with Gianluigi Buffon going the wrong way, and to his right. The ball then bounced up to hit the bar again in one of the most bizarre penalties ever seen in a major final.

Italy, though, were to come back strongly, but had another scare when Materazzi just headed past his own post from Willy Sagnol's cross. Materazzi's eventful start to the game continued, when a superbly delivered corner, on the right, from AC Milan's Andrea Pirlo, saw the Italian centre-back make a majestic leap to head in the equaliser. A quick, incisive Italian move was then thwarted by Lilian Thuram's great block from Luca Toni's shot. From the resulting corner, there was nearly a replica of the first goal, but Toni headed Pirlo's corner against the bar.

Italy had the better of the first half, but France started the second very impressively, as Henry, Malouda, and Frank Ribery's energy started to unsettle the Italian defence. A great run by Henry ended with the Arsenal forward only managing to get in a weak shot, which Buffon easily saved. France were then nearly undone, when a Cannavaro header was blocked by William Gallas. Another great run by Henry saw him fire in a low cross, but no French player was on hand to supply the finishing touch. The French pressure continued, with the overlapping Eric Abidal setting up a good chance for Henry, but he hesitated and the chance was lost. Malouda then broke into the Italian penalty area, and Gianluca Zambrotta's challenge on him could well have ended up with a penalty decision against him. Another fine French move caused the Italy defence some concern, when Malouda's strong run ended with a low cross, which just failed to find Ribery, as a French goal looked imminent. But a blow for France came when Patrick Vieira had to go off with what looked like a hamstring injury. Despite this loss, France still looked threatening, and Zidane saw his shot well blocked by Pirlo. Toni then thought he had headed Italy ahead from a free kick, but he was ruled to have been offside. Henry continued to look dangerous and got in a smart shot, which Buffon saved well. Toni should have done better when in a good position, but took too much time, allowing his effort to be blocked. Pirlo came close for Italy, with a curling free kick which just flew wide. Zidane then injured his shoulder, and looked set to come off, but he carried on after treatment. It was to be yet another half hour of extra time in this World Cup for two closely matched teams.

France created an opening after a great one-two between Ribery and Malouda, which ended with Ribery shooting just wide. The French were still looking the better side, and Buffon had to pull off a superb one-handed save from Zidane's bullet header, from a Sagnol cross from the right. That was to be the last real footballing action of the first period of extra time, and though the French had another blow when Henry had to be substituted, as he too was injured, the second period will be remembered for just one thing... Zidane's red card on 110 minutes. Marco Materazzi was seen to goad Zidane, who initially jogged away, then the Italian said something else, and Zidane stopped dead in his tracks. He then headbutted Materazzi in the chest with such power, that you feared for the Italian. It seemed the officials had originally missed the incident, but, after some consultation, this great footballer's last ever game ended in shame and disgrace, as Argentinian referee Horacio Marcelo Elizondo pulled out a red card. It was one of the most horrific incidents seen in any World Cup match, let alone a final.

The rest of extra time meandered towards penalties. Italy, who had lost all three of their previous penalty shootouts in World Cups, went first. Pirlo thumped his penalty straight down the middle, with Fabien Barthez moving to his right. Then French sub Sylvain Wiltord drilled his penalty to Buffon's left, who moved the wrong way. Materazzi was obviously destined to take a penalty, and his kick beat Barthez diving to his left. Another French sub, David Trezeguet, who had scored the winning goal for France in the 2000 European Championship final, against Italy, then stepped up to take his spot kick against his Juventus team-mate. But he could only hit the crossbar, with Buffon going the wrong way. Italian substitute Daniele De Rossi, who had missed four matches after a horrific elbow on the USA's Brian McBride earlier in the competition, smashed his penalty to Barthez's right. Eric Abidal's penalty went to Buffon's right with the 'keeper going the wrong way. Then another sub, Alessandro Del Piero, sent Barthez the wrong way, as his penalty went to the French 'keeper's right. Willy Sagnol then had to score to keep French hopes alive, which he did comfortably, hammering his kick to Buffon's left, with the 'keeper diving to his right. So destiny fell to a man who had been prominent in Italy's success through the knockout stage, winning the penalty against Australia, and putting the Italians ahead late on in the semi final against Germany, Fabio Grosso. He looked confident as he went up to take his penalty, which, if successful, would win the World Cup for Italy for the first time since 1982. He duly stroked the ball home to Barthez's left, as once again the 'keeper went the wrong way.

For France's captain Zidane, this was a sad ending to a magnificent career. For Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, an unbelievable way to mark his 100th international. France were the better side on the night, but after Zizou's behaviour you couldn't feel sorry for the French. It was also Italy's first win over France for 28 years, on a night where France's ill luck with injuries damaged their cause. French coach Raymond Domenech has the consolation of getting the best out of a French side not many people fancied, and his Italian counterpart, Marcello Lippi, has enhanced his titanic status as a coach, and may just be the best there's ever been. Once again Italy win a World Cup against the odds. A lot of this Italian team and squad play for clubs under the microscope regarding the bribery allegations, and their futures are uncertain, yet they have somehow driven themselves on to win the World Cup. Remarkable.

Teams

France: Barthez, Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Abidal, Ribery (Trezeguet 100), Vieira (Diarra 56), Makelele, Zidane, Malouda, Henry (Wiltord 107).
Subs Not Used: Boumsong, Chimbonda, Coupet, Dhorasoo, Givet, Govou, Landreau, Silvestre.
Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Grosso, Camoranesi (Del Piero 86), Pirlo, Gattuso, Perrotta (Iaquinta 61), Totti (De Rossi 61), Toni.
Subs Not Used: Amelia, Barone, Barzagli, Gilardino, Inzaghi, Nesta, Oddo, Peruzzi, Zaccardo.

Fifa Man Of The Match: Andrea Pirlo.

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.