Fabio Grosso, the 29-year-old Palermo defender looked at the spot and took the penalty confidently. His powerful left footed shot crashed into the right hand corner of the goal and the world cup is over. Italy is crowned as the champion for the fourth time.
Italy won 5 – 3 on penalties, as the game was tied one goal apiece even after 30 minutes of extra time. In a match that was billed as the perfect farewell game for Zidane, the wizard got himself red carded for head butting Materazzi. Earlier on Zidane scored from a penalty kick awarded for a foul on Malouda while Materazzi equalized for the champions.
In the fully packed Berlin's Olympiastadion, both the teams fielded the same line – up as in the semifinal. Right from kick – off it proved to be an incident filled encounter. France got an early scare when Henry accidentally collided with Cannavaro and it appeared that the star striker suffered from concussion. But to the relief of his fans, he was back to his lethal best after getting some medical attention.
The Final witnessed its first goal within the first seven minutes itself. French winger Florent Malouda was bought down by a Materazzi foul and the referee pointed towards the spot kick. But television replays clearly revealed that the defender had made no contact with Malouda.
Zidane took an audacious penalty with the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar and barely crossing the goal line. Zidane celebrated the goal by raising his arm like the way he has done through out the tournament. With the goal, Zidane joined an elite group involving Pele, Vava and Paul Breitner as the only players to score in two World Cup finals.
Italy began to surge forward after Zidane’s goal. Italy found the equalizer in the 19th minute through Materazzi. Pirlo’s curling corner found Materazzi’s head on way to the goal.
Both the teams fought for midfield dominance and the Zidane – Pirlo battle was enthralling. Both the players were keen not to give freedom to the other one to perform.
Both the teams were excellent defensively. Any attempts to attack were met by strong defending from both Thuram and Cannavaro. Italy was looking threatening on set pieces. In the 28th minute Thuram blocked another Materazzi header. Similarly another header by Luca Toni hits the cross bar.
In the second half, Italy was pushed back to their own half by the French attacking display. The match was an intensively fought physical encounter. Vieira pulled his hamstring in the 56th minute and was substituted by Alou Diarra. France had started to lose control of the game from this moment.
When the match was entering the final half hour of normal time, Italian coach Marcello Lippi decides to introduce fresh pair of legs by replacing Perrotta and Totti with Iaquinta and De Rossi respectively. At the 86th minute, Lippi made his final substitution bringing in Del Piero for Camoranesi.
As the first half of extra time was coming to an end, Raymond Domenech replaced Ribery with Trezeguet. The only scoring opportunity in the extra time came in the 103rd minute when Sagnol presented Zidane with a cross. But Zidane’s header was brilliantly parried away by Buffon. As the match was moving towards tie – breaker, Domenech surprised everyone by substituting Henry with Wiltord.
Zidane could not provide the fairy tale ending which everyone expected. When he head butted Materazzi and got himself sent off, it marked the end of a glorious career. Along with this sent off, France’s chances were also fading.
When the winners had to be decided through a tie – breaker, France had limited experience in penalty shooters. Pirlo, Materazzi, de Rossi, del Piero and Grosso connected for Italy; while Wiltord, Abidal and Sagnol connected for France. It was Trezequet’s miss that decided the tie.
It has been a long wait of 24 years for the Azzurris to realise their dream of winning the gold. The win erased the heartbreak of the 1994 world cup finals where they lost to Brazil in the tie – breaker. Under Lippi’s guidance and Fabio Cannavaro’s inspirational leadership, Italy played outstanding football. Contrary to their traditional defensive style, Lippi made them play a mixture of offensive and defensive football. No one deserved the title more than the Azzurris.
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